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There is, I think, in his works
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an element of high tragedy,
and I am sure that tonight,
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he will be willing
to share with us
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00:00:10,860 --> 00:00:14,000
the movements and gestures
of his dance macabre.
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I present to you, Stephen King.
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Thank you.
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You come to experiences in your
own life that are frightening,
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and you try to make sense
of them in what you write.
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And I can remember
living in Colorado
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and we had an old
American Motors car
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that just simply vomited
up it s transmission one day
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in the middle of the road.
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And a tow truck came along
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and took it away
to wherever they take
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transmissionless Matadors,
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and they called around after
it had started to get dark
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and said, "Your car's ready
if you want to come and get it."
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And my wife said,
"Are you going to take a cab?"
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And I said, "No, I'll walk."
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And I walked and it got
darker and darker,
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and this was really on
the edge of town, you know.
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There's nothing there and
you could see the dealership,
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but it was a ways away.
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And the path went across
this bridge, you know,
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a little arched humpback wooden bridge.
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And I'm walking across it,
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and I can hear my heels
clacking on the bridge
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and I flashed to this
story when I was a kid
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about these goats that were
going across a bridge
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and there's this troll
underneath and he said...
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"Who's that
trip-trapping on my bridge?"
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And I thought, "Wouldn't it be a scream
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if something just reached
up now and grabbed me,
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and pulled me down there,
and that was the last
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anybody heard of
old Stevie King?"
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So.
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But the incident
stayed in my mind,
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and over a period of five years,
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I would come back to that
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and come back to that,
and little by little,
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I began to evolve a story
until now it's developed into
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a novel that's about
1,300 pages long.
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It's called IT,
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and it all came from that
one little moment of fear.
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And I think that a moment
of fear is worth having
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if you can get something good
out of it.
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This is Tim
Reid, Richard, in Virginia.
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It's back.
I found a picture of Georgie.
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IT's enduring power
50
00:02:00,470 --> 00:02:04,450
may come from the chords
it strikes among all of us.
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We're all human beings
and we were all children once.
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It's amazing
to me all these years later
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how people are still coming up
and talking about
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that it has this lasting
effect and impact.
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You never think
that something you've created
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will, you know,
this will live on forever.
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As an actor,
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I didn't really
pay much attention
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to the impact that I was having.
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I was just something
I was doing as a kid.
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This is battery acid,
you slime!
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I've done
shows in Mexico or in Europe
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where the crew
that I've worked with there,
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they're like,
"Oh, my god. You did IT!"
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I think the story itself
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is kind of timeless...
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People going through issues
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and having to come together
to overcome them.
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We do it.
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Oh yeah. We.
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You know,
it's a coming-of-age story.
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It always surprises me when people say,
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"Oh, my god, I always
wanted to be you in IT.
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I always wished I was Bev."
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And I think,
"Oh, you poor thing.
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What was your childhood like?"
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It's
talking some pretty serious talk
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about what it's like
for each of us to be a child.
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- The fun.
- Yeah! Yeah!
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And the scary parts.
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You know, most TV movies
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disappear into oblivion.
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I think the fact that IT
is consistently played on cable
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has opened it to.
A much wider audience.
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It was one of the first
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terrifying mini-series.
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People were invested in it.
It became an event.
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Something is coming.
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And because it was made for TV,
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it allowed a younger audience
to view it as well.
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Little kids, who saw.
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IT on television,
it's still in their minds
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as the scariest thing
they've ever seen.
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Ah!
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That movie scared
the beep out of me, like,
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I couldn't sleep,
I hate clowns, I hate spiders.
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Like, couldn't even go
near a drain.
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People
tend to gravitate towards things
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that struck them as a kid.
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00:03:47,510 --> 00:03:49,660
And I think probably
a lot of the people who saw IT
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as teenagers or younger,
it just, it burned themselves.
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So as an adult, it
becomes a fun memory,
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then it takes on
this whole other cult level.
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It scared the hell
out of millions of people.
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00:04:06,030 --> 00:04:08,040
One of the comments is...
Is typically.
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00:04:08,070 --> 00:04:10,700
"Tim Curry is the reason
why I'm terrified of clowns."
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00:04:12,400 --> 00:04:14,150
The portrayal of
Pennywise probably went from.
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00:04:14,170 --> 00:04:15,480
"Yeah, we're gonna
have some clowns over
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for little Johnny's
birthday party" to,
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"Uh, probably not."
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Well, a character
that manifests itself
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in the shape of your fears
is terrifying
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at any age, in any era.
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And so, I think that's why
that concept is so indelible.
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A lot of people tell me
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that IT poisoned their childhood
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when they saw it on television.
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And I would always think,
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"You shouldn't have been
watching it."
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00:05:02,420 --> 00:05:03,560
I had written Carrie,
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00:05:03,590 --> 00:05:06,630
and that had put Steve
King, Brian de Palma,
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00:05:06,660 --> 00:05:09,240
the actors and me on the map
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00:05:09,260 --> 00:05:13,240
in a way that I became a
go-to for horror adaptations.
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00:05:13,260 --> 00:05:14,510
I got a call one day.
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00:05:17,740 --> 00:05:20,510
.from my agent
in Los Angeles who said
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00:05:20,540 --> 00:05:23,050
he'd been approached
by a pair of producers
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who'd set up a new
Stephen King project at ABC
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as a novel for television
and was I interested in that?
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The next day the doorbell rang,
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Federal Express at the door,
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and the guy is carrying
the most humongous.
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00:05:36,760 --> 00:05:39,530
FedEx package I've ever seen.
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I took this unwieldy,
bulky piece from him
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00:05:43,090 --> 00:05:45,610
and was about to close the door
and he said, "Hang on a minute."
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And he went back to the elevator
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00:05:47,100 --> 00:05:50,140
and came back with
these two giant containers
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containing the typed manuscript
of IT in its earliest stages.
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I sat down and read the opening
with young Stuttering Bill.
139
00:05:59,110 --> 00:06:04,360
Well, we have to
seal it first with paraffin.
140
00:06:04,380 --> 00:06:06,230
And baby brother Georgie,
141
00:06:06,250 --> 00:06:08,860
and what turns out to be
a horrible demise
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at the hands of Pennywise.
In the sewer.
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I went, "I'll do it."
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We went in for a first
meeting with the network
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and the executive vice
president of movies for television
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and she looked at me
and she said,
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"So tell me, what is IT?"
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And I said, "Well it's
an inter-terrestrial beast...
149
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"that has come down eons ago
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and has the power to screw
with kids' minds.
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Beep-beep, Richie.
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"And attack their worst fears."
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And she looked at me
and she nodded, and she said,
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"Yes, but what is IT?"
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So, I went, "Okay."
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And I answered another answer
and she asked me,
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I don't know, five more times.
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And I looked over
at the producers and went,
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"I'm in hell."
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I was coming back home
to New York,
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and I'm sitting on the plane,
162
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and I see a guy
with his back to me
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reading what is clearly
the cover of my script.
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00:07:04,580 --> 00:07:06,520
It's Bob Iger,
who was the head of
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all of the programming at ABC.
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And he whipped
through night one,
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went through his briefcase,
pulled out night two,
168
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whipped through night two,
stood up, stretched,
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sort of smiled,
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and it said to me
IT had his support,
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and I think he
decided in that reading,
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"Yeah, let's do it."
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The producers had a brainstorm
and they picked up the phone
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00:07:32,870 --> 00:07:36,220
and they made an overture
toward George Romero.
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He loved the book;
he was as nuts for it as I was.
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He saw the possibilities
of what IT could be.
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I pitched it to the network
as a long novel for television.
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I said, "I think it should be
eight and ideally ten hours."
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We exchanged maybe five times
in the course of the process.
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I would do what was needed,
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00:07:59,230 --> 00:08:01,540
which was called a bible
in television terms,
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00:08:01,570 --> 00:08:03,940
which was just
a really detailed outline.
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00:08:03,970 --> 00:08:06,350
And I'd send it to George.
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00:08:06,370 --> 00:08:08,480
He'd look at the
outline, and a week later
185
00:08:08,510 --> 00:08:13,250
I would get a 45-page
typed version of mine
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interspersed with his thoughts,
his notes, and his suggestions.
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00:08:17,580 --> 00:08:18,960
There was never a
question that he thought
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it was going to be a gross-out,
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lots of blood,
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kind of picture.
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He understood what television offered
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00:08:28,290 --> 00:08:32,470
was the chance for
you to go right up to the line.
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But his radar was out for
what would the network allow.
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I think the dream
of what we had in mind
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was absolutely amazing.
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00:08:42,770 --> 00:08:45,650
I think we were just about
20 years early in having it.
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We would have been Game of Thrones.
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That would have been the way
to do this piece of material
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in its fullest possible way.
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00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:56,600
The network started to get very
nervous.
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Nobody had ever gone
where this piece had gone,
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00:08:58,890 --> 00:09:02,940
and they sort of went
from it being eight hours,
203
00:09:02,960 --> 00:09:05,810
which became the official
running time bible,
204
00:09:05,830 --> 00:09:08,280
to maybe it should be four,
205
00:09:08,300 --> 00:09:10,570
at which point
George said, goodbye.
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00:09:15,370 --> 00:09:17,480
We were looking for a director.
207
00:09:17,510 --> 00:09:18,590
We had an air date.
208
00:09:19,880 --> 00:09:23,060
Stephen
King's IT starting tomorrow.
209
00:09:23,080 --> 00:09:25,730
Tommy Lee Wallace came to mind.
210
00:09:25,750 --> 00:09:27,660
Tommy was also a writer.
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00:09:27,690 --> 00:09:31,570
Part two needed the help and
I felt that a director-writer
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00:09:31,590 --> 00:09:33,730
would probably be
the person to do that.
213
00:09:33,760 --> 00:09:36,000
And action!
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00:09:36,030 --> 00:09:40,770
I cut my teeth on synopsizing
manuscripts for agents
215
00:09:40,800 --> 00:09:44,010
and developed a knack
for condensing novels
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00:09:44,040 --> 00:09:47,350
into a couple of pages
of synopsis,
217
00:09:47,370 --> 00:09:51,050
So I just made an attempt
to do that with the book.
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00:09:51,080 --> 00:09:53,950
Larry Cohen wrote
this wonderful script,
219
00:09:53,980 --> 00:09:55,890
and I'm referring to
night number one
220
00:09:55,910 --> 00:09:58,430
because that's what got me
truly excited.
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00:09:58,450 --> 00:10:00,730
The trick in IT was
222
00:10:00,750 --> 00:10:03,400
in putting on the King hat
223
00:10:03,420 --> 00:10:06,370
and going, "Okay,
I've now read this 400 times,
224
00:10:06,390 --> 00:10:09,500
I breathe it with
every pore of my body,
225
00:10:09,530 --> 00:10:12,440
and I'm gonna pretend
I'm Stephen King
226
00:10:12,460 --> 00:10:15,340
for as long as it takes for me
to get this done."
227
00:10:15,370 --> 00:10:17,580
I did three-by-five cards
on the wall,
228
00:10:17,600 --> 00:10:21,350
and I went, "Okay, we're missing
how you get from here to here.
229
00:10:21,370 --> 00:10:23,680
It's not in what he wrote."
230
00:10:23,710 --> 00:10:27,960
I retained a part of Steve's
back-and-forth juggling...
231
00:10:27,980 --> 00:10:29,960
I brought this old
photo album from home.
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00:10:29,980 --> 00:10:31,530
Of the two time periods.
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00:10:31,550 --> 00:10:34,830
I thought it had a lot
of emotional resonance.
234
00:10:34,850 --> 00:10:37,100
That's
the only time I've ever seen
235
00:10:37,120 --> 00:10:40,800
the absurdity of
a seven-act TV movie structure
236
00:10:40,830 --> 00:10:44,610
actually work because of the
seven characters involved.
237
00:10:44,630 --> 00:10:46,140
So, for the first night,
238
00:10:46,160 --> 00:10:48,880
the structural job
became really clear
239
00:10:48,900 --> 00:10:53,010
and weirdly the limitation
became a tremendous asset.
240
00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:55,020
Each act focused on
241
00:10:55,040 --> 00:10:56,280
one of the characters
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00:10:56,310 --> 00:10:59,050
and told the story
of what happened in childhood
243
00:10:59,080 --> 00:11:01,990
and the alarm being
sounded for them.
244
00:11:02,010 --> 00:11:03,490
- Hello?
- Beverly,
245
00:11:03,510 --> 00:11:04,830
it's Mike Hanlon.
246
00:11:04,850 --> 00:11:07,760
I was less enamored
with the second night
247
00:11:07,790 --> 00:11:12,770
because it deviated so far away
from the novel itself.
248
00:11:12,790 --> 00:11:14,540
I didn't know that
in the beginning
249
00:11:14,560 --> 00:11:17,400
because I hadn't read the novel,
but I knew something was amiss.
250
00:11:17,430 --> 00:11:19,740
It just didn't
deliver the goods.
251
00:11:19,760 --> 00:11:21,710
The husband of Bevy...
252
00:11:21,730 --> 00:11:23,510
No, I'm not married.
253
00:11:23,530 --> 00:11:25,080
Re-entered the picture
254
00:11:25,100 --> 00:11:28,680
and became kind of
the villain of the piece.
255
00:11:28,710 --> 00:11:29,980
Being more or less
256
00:11:30,010 --> 00:11:32,750
animated by Pennywise.
257
00:11:32,780 --> 00:11:34,820
In dramatic terms,
258
00:11:34,850 --> 00:11:38,830
it did what it needed to do
to bring the movie to an end,
259
00:11:38,850 --> 00:11:41,730
but it had little to do
with the book
260
00:11:41,750 --> 00:11:44,700
and I felt like it
kind of gypped the viewer.
261
00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:49,440
It was a much more prosaic
TV-style climax.
262
00:11:51,700 --> 00:11:54,140
I was candid with Larry
about that.
263
00:11:54,170 --> 00:11:58,550
And by this point, the impetus
is moving to Vancouver
264
00:11:58,570 --> 00:12:02,620
and Larry couldn't come
to Vancouver to work with me
265
00:12:02,640 --> 00:12:05,990
to bring the second night
up to the first.
266
00:12:06,010 --> 00:12:07,720
By this time,
I'd been working on the project
267
00:12:07,750 --> 00:12:09,660
for about two-and-a-half,
three years.
268
00:12:09,680 --> 00:12:11,230
Not quite as long as
it took Steve to write it
269
00:12:11,250 --> 00:12:13,690
but the runner-up prize.
270
00:12:13,720 --> 00:12:15,630
We were about to start Carrie
271
00:12:15,650 --> 00:12:17,930
with the Royal Shakespeare
Company over in England
272
00:12:17,960 --> 00:12:20,970
and I was owing a draft
on something else, and I went,
273
00:12:20,990 --> 00:12:25,030
"I think this is my cue to say,
'Go with God. I'm done.'"
274
00:12:26,600 --> 00:12:29,040
So, the job fell to the best guy
275
00:12:29,070 --> 00:12:32,650
I could find for free, me.
276
00:12:32,670 --> 00:12:35,020
And so,
I did the rewrite myself.
277
00:12:35,040 --> 00:12:37,890
And in this case,
we simply were up against
278
00:12:37,910 --> 00:12:40,590
a production schedule
that was hurtling toward us
279
00:12:40,610 --> 00:12:42,790
and was not going to be
pushed back.
280
00:12:42,810 --> 00:12:45,130
So I just went back to
the book again and again
281
00:12:45,150 --> 00:12:49,260
until I could find a way
to bring the adult story around
282
00:12:49,290 --> 00:12:52,800
to something
resembling the book.
283
00:12:52,820 --> 00:12:57,500
It really is a deep challenge
to condense a novel
284
00:12:57,530 --> 00:13:00,070
that rich, that deep,
that dense,
285
00:13:00,100 --> 00:13:03,680
into just a few hours
of television.
286
00:13:03,700 --> 00:13:06,610
I used Mike
as a narrative device.
287
00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,650
I'm sure by now
you all remember
288
00:13:08,670 --> 00:13:10,880
what was going on
in Derry 30 years ago.
289
00:13:10,910 --> 00:13:14,120
There was a rash of killings,
maimings, disappearances.
290
00:13:14,150 --> 00:13:16,620
Because
you can save a lot of frames of film
291
00:13:16,650 --> 00:13:19,560
if somebody's summing up
the story.
292
00:13:19,580 --> 00:13:21,160
Henry Bowers confessed to everything,
293
00:13:21,190 --> 00:13:22,500
and the killing stopped.
294
00:13:22,520 --> 00:13:24,060
I thought
it was poignant for him
295
00:13:24,090 --> 00:13:26,600
and helped his character
actually.
296
00:13:26,620 --> 00:13:30,740
But it was going so fast
that at night in the hotel
297
00:13:30,760 --> 00:13:31,760
I would just...
298
00:13:34,170 --> 00:13:36,080
as fast as I could go.
299
00:13:36,100 --> 00:13:38,310
I don't think Night Two
is the masterpiece
300
00:13:38,340 --> 00:13:39,850
that Night One is,
301
00:13:39,870 --> 00:13:44,150
because I do respect
Larry Cohen's script
302
00:13:44,180 --> 00:13:46,590
and didn't feel all that great
303
00:13:46,610 --> 00:13:49,290
about changing
it so drastically.
304
00:13:49,310 --> 00:13:51,260
Tommy Lee
did what he needed to do
305
00:13:51,280 --> 00:13:53,250
given what the circumstances
were.
306
00:14:09,170 --> 00:14:10,780
This reminds you
very much of your childhood,
307
00:14:10,800 --> 00:14:11,850
this neighborhood?
308
00:14:11,870 --> 00:14:13,180
Yes, it does.
309
00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:15,620
It does. Same dirt road.
310
00:14:15,640 --> 00:14:18,750
Same old Grange Hall
at the end of the road.
311
00:14:18,780 --> 00:14:20,050
That's you.
312
00:14:20,080 --> 00:14:21,390
That's me
when I sold my first story.
313
00:14:21,410 --> 00:14:24,320
I look a little bit surprised
about the whole thing.
314
00:14:24,350 --> 00:14:27,290
Stephen King
is such great drama and mystery.
315
00:14:27,320 --> 00:14:30,600
And for as much as his books are
about horrific things,
316
00:14:30,620 --> 00:14:33,930
they are mostly about
deeply human
317
00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:35,900
psychological thought processes,
318
00:14:35,930 --> 00:14:39,070
so you get a lot of
deep character study.
319
00:14:39,100 --> 00:14:40,970
Well, I'd read most of the books
320
00:14:41,000 --> 00:14:43,380
because he's a master of
narrative.
321
00:14:43,400 --> 00:14:45,980
He tells a whacking good story.
322
00:14:46,000 --> 00:14:49,080
People would say you ought to
write about what you know.
323
00:14:49,110 --> 00:14:52,620
I grew up in a small town.
We had no running water.
324
00:14:52,640 --> 00:14:54,250
I went to a one-room school
325
00:14:54,280 --> 00:14:57,190
with all the grades
together and.
326
00:14:57,210 --> 00:15:00,030
Somebody had to go up
to a house and bring back water.
327
00:15:00,050 --> 00:15:01,800
And to me, the whole existence
328
00:15:01,820 --> 00:15:05,000
was not pastoral
or beautiful or anything.
329
00:15:05,020 --> 00:15:06,030
It was just boring.
330
00:15:06,060 --> 00:15:07,400
I wanted to be in outer space.
331
00:15:07,430 --> 00:15:11,710
I wanted to fight monsters
in the swamps of the Amazon.
332
00:15:11,730 --> 00:15:13,710
So those were the things
that I wrote about.
333
00:15:13,730 --> 00:15:16,910
And later I found a way to.
334
00:15:16,930 --> 00:15:19,180
Blend those two interests:
335
00:15:19,200 --> 00:15:22,920
My interest in what was
strange and... and alien
336
00:15:22,940 --> 00:15:26,220
and the places where I lived
and where I grew up.
337
00:15:26,240 --> 00:15:27,420
Most of his works are
338
00:15:27,450 --> 00:15:29,760
difficult to turn into films.
339
00:15:29,780 --> 00:15:31,830
Because if you try to.
340
00:15:31,850 --> 00:15:34,330
Visually show an audience
what this.
341
00:15:34,350 --> 00:15:36,300
Incredibly talented writer
342
00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:41,030
that uses the English language
in order to have the reader
343
00:15:41,060 --> 00:15:45,840
conjure up their worst fears,
it doesn't always work.
344
00:15:45,860 --> 00:15:48,380
The movie has to capture
345
00:15:48,400 --> 00:15:52,450
some of the spirit of
the writer's heart and-and mind.
346
00:15:52,470 --> 00:15:54,410
And if it doesn't,
generally speaking,
347
00:15:54,440 --> 00:15:56,880
what the reader went to the book
and found and loved,
348
00:15:56,910 --> 00:15:58,450
the movie audience won't.
349
00:15:58,480 --> 00:16:00,320
It's hard to capture
all the little nuances
350
00:16:00,340 --> 00:16:01,960
that he puts in his books.
351
00:16:01,980 --> 00:16:03,860
His stuff was such an influence
352
00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,430
on so many filmmakers as well,
as far as storytelling.
353
00:16:06,450 --> 00:16:09,130
Steve's
got a very particular genius
354
00:16:09,150 --> 00:16:11,260
in creating villains.
355
00:16:11,290 --> 00:16:14,200
They become iconic
and come into a level
356
00:16:14,230 --> 00:16:16,740
of the public's consciousness
and the viewer's conscious
357
00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:18,210
that's forever.
358
00:16:18,230 --> 00:16:19,810
You were one
of the first people
359
00:16:19,830 --> 00:16:22,080
to have the idea that a clown
360
00:16:22,100 --> 00:16:25,180
could be a scary figure.
361
00:16:25,200 --> 00:16:27,710
Did you find clowns scary
when you were a kid?
362
00:16:27,740 --> 00:16:30,420
Well, you know, as a kid
going to the circus,
363
00:16:30,440 --> 00:16:33,020
there would be like,
12 full-grown people
364
00:16:33,040 --> 00:16:35,490
that would all pile out
of a little tiny car.
365
00:16:35,510 --> 00:16:37,890
Their faces were dead white.
366
00:16:37,920 --> 00:16:40,860
Their mouths were red as
though they were full of blood.
367
00:16:40,890 --> 00:16:43,100
They're all screaming.
Their eyes are huge.
368
00:16:43,120 --> 00:16:44,280
What's not to like, you know?
369
00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,800
The circus is
still the greatest show on earth,
370
00:16:50,830 --> 00:16:55,210
and to have a circus,
you have to have clowns.
371
00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:00,910
Well, there's
a long tradition of clowns.
372
00:17:00,940 --> 00:17:04,120
When I was a kid and used to go
to pantomimes in England,
373
00:17:04,140 --> 00:17:06,950
they used to have a guy
whose name I think
374
00:17:06,980 --> 00:17:10,160
was Charlie Cairoli,
who wore the classic
375
00:17:10,180 --> 00:17:14,130
kind of pointed hat
and was rather a gentleman.
376
00:17:14,150 --> 00:17:16,230
He wasn't threatening at all.
377
00:17:16,250 --> 00:17:17,800
Growing up,
my brother was into clowns
378
00:17:17,820 --> 00:17:19,800
and ran away
and joined the circus.
379
00:17:19,820 --> 00:17:23,170
If you've ever been
backstage at a circus,
380
00:17:23,190 --> 00:17:25,840
it changes your perceptions
of clowns.
381
00:17:25,860 --> 00:17:29,440
Often there's sort of mayhem
involved with being a clown.
382
00:17:29,470 --> 00:17:34,110
They're usually, both
silly and scary or playful,
383
00:17:34,140 --> 00:17:36,120
which can all be frightening
to a kid.
384
00:17:36,140 --> 00:17:38,450
I went to the circus in 1974,
385
00:17:38,480 --> 00:17:40,950
when I was a little kid,
and I have a photo of me
386
00:17:40,980 --> 00:17:42,390
where the clown's putting
his arm around me,
387
00:17:42,410 --> 00:17:43,420
and I'm only about this tall.
388
00:17:43,450 --> 00:17:46,130
And I have this
paralyzed look like, you know,
389
00:17:46,150 --> 00:17:47,360
I'm not happy.
390
00:17:47,380 --> 00:17:48,100
I think it's almost archetypal
391
00:17:48,120 --> 00:17:49,900
in the sense that clowns,
392
00:17:49,920 --> 00:17:51,930
like Pagliacci, the opera...
393
00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,230
There's always something
behind that smile.
394
00:17:54,260 --> 00:17:57,940
I think prima facie,
clowns are fucking scary.
395
00:17:57,960 --> 00:17:59,840
Even when you're enjoying them,
396
00:17:59,860 --> 00:18:03,510
there's something in there
in the grotesquery of it all,
397
00:18:03,530 --> 00:18:06,210
and it's really in
the eyes, I think.
398
00:18:06,240 --> 00:18:08,550
You know, you can have
this very funny thing.
399
00:18:08,570 --> 00:18:10,920
Even if the mouth
isn't overtly scary,
400
00:18:10,940 --> 00:18:12,890
which sometimes
clown mouths are,
401
00:18:12,910 --> 00:18:15,820
but the minute
the eyes get hard,
402
00:18:15,850 --> 00:18:18,890
the minute the eyes aren't,
you know...
403
00:18:21,620 --> 00:18:23,220
You know, aren't that,
and they go.
404
00:18:27,420 --> 00:18:28,870
Wow!
405
00:18:28,890 --> 00:18:31,040
I would go to McDonald's
when I was a little kid.
406
00:18:31,060 --> 00:18:34,070
I would not go hang out with
the Ronald McDonald cutout.
407
00:18:34,100 --> 00:18:35,180
The fry guy!
408
00:18:35,200 --> 00:18:37,040
There's something
weird about it.
409
00:18:37,070 --> 00:18:39,380
I didn't think he was going to
grow teeth and eat my face.
410
00:18:39,400 --> 00:18:41,380
Not every single clown you see
411
00:18:41,410 --> 00:18:44,180
makes you want to
instantly turn around
412
00:18:44,210 --> 00:18:45,150
and run away in horror.
413
00:18:45,180 --> 00:18:47,220
I think adults and kids
414
00:18:47,240 --> 00:18:49,490
understand clowns
very differently.
415
00:18:49,510 --> 00:18:51,390
I can't go to circuses.
416
00:18:51,420 --> 00:18:53,960
I can't go somewhere
where there's clowns,
417
00:18:53,980 --> 00:18:55,600
even a picture of it.
418
00:18:55,620 --> 00:18:57,220
What's going
to happen if you look at it?
419
00:18:58,990 --> 00:19:01,470
It is a phobia,
and it is called coulrophobia.
420
00:19:01,490 --> 00:19:04,470
The majority of people that are
afraid of clowns are adults.
421
00:19:10,900 --> 00:19:12,510
I think for kids,
422
00:19:12,540 --> 00:19:13,950
clowns are great fun.
423
00:19:13,970 --> 00:19:17,080
There's just not any menace
or danger at all.
424
00:19:17,110 --> 00:19:19,650
And Steve's particular spin
was to take something
425
00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:21,660
that's much loved and familiar
426
00:19:21,680 --> 00:19:25,160
and ratchet it up
as far as it could possibly go.
427
00:19:25,180 --> 00:19:26,430
Somebody who's got problems
428
00:19:26,450 --> 00:19:30,130
and fears and phobias,
they go to a psychiatrist,
429
00:19:30,150 --> 00:19:32,470
and it costs maybe
150 dollars an hour.
430
00:19:32,490 --> 00:19:33,630
And they don't even get
a full hour,
431
00:19:33,660 --> 00:19:35,270
they get 50 minutes.
432
00:19:35,290 --> 00:19:37,470
I do what people pay me.
433
00:19:37,490 --> 00:19:39,040
There's lots of things
434
00:19:39,060 --> 00:19:41,580
that feed into what
King was doing
435
00:19:41,600 --> 00:19:44,610
with creating a clown
as the main antagonist.
436
00:19:44,640 --> 00:19:47,110
At the time, John Wayne Gacy
had just happened,
437
00:19:47,140 --> 00:19:49,450
so we're dealing with
people being afraid of clowns,
438
00:19:49,470 --> 00:19:51,920
and the guy next door
is a threat.
439
00:19:51,940 --> 00:19:53,620
At one point,
I saw a painting of Pennywise
440
00:19:53,640 --> 00:19:55,520
that Gacy had done.
441
00:19:55,550 --> 00:19:56,990
A dark landscape,
442
00:19:57,010 --> 00:19:58,290
a portrait of Elvis,
443
00:19:58,320 --> 00:20:00,190
and a scene with seven dwarfs.
444
00:20:00,220 --> 00:20:03,100
But this is the work
of John Wayne Gacy,
445
00:20:03,120 --> 00:20:06,600
an evil man who buried
more than 25 of his victims
446
00:20:06,620 --> 00:20:09,270
in the crawl space
of his own house.
447
00:20:09,290 --> 00:20:12,210
Arts Factory owner
showed us five pieces,
448
00:20:12,230 --> 00:20:14,270
including this
Pennywise the Clown
449
00:20:14,300 --> 00:20:16,080
from Stephen King's IT.
450
00:20:16,100 --> 00:20:19,110
I was like, should
I be flattered or offended?
451
00:20:19,140 --> 00:20:20,410
I don't know
how I feel about this.
452
00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,520
The scary
clown is that realization
453
00:20:23,540 --> 00:20:26,250
deep within the child that
they can't express, that no,
454
00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:28,050
something's not quite
right in the world, you know.
455
00:20:28,080 --> 00:20:30,360
Like, I've seen the homeless guy
in the street.
456
00:20:30,380 --> 00:20:32,490
Any spare change, mister?
457
00:20:32,520 --> 00:20:34,690
Or, you know, I've seen
really sick people,
458
00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,560
or I myself have experienced
some kind of abuse
459
00:20:37,590 --> 00:20:39,370
or discrimination, right?
460
00:20:39,390 --> 00:20:41,470
But you're not supposed
to talk about it as a child.
461
00:20:41,490 --> 00:20:43,970
You feel like you have to
smile and be happy.
462
00:20:45,700 --> 00:20:46,970
That's
what the evil clown is about.
463
00:20:47,000 --> 00:20:49,410
It's about the fact
that there's something rotten.
464
00:20:50,500 --> 00:20:51,880
at the heart of society.
465
00:20:51,900 --> 00:20:55,020
This whole town
is IT in some way. All of them.
466
00:20:55,040 --> 00:20:57,380
And as a kid, you're
not allowed to express it.
467
00:20:57,410 --> 00:20:58,650
Pennywise is really important
468
00:20:58,680 --> 00:21:02,490
because the '50s were
considered safe and sweet
469
00:21:02,510 --> 00:21:05,230
and nostalgic and fun.
470
00:21:05,250 --> 00:21:08,430
And at the heart of it,
they're not.
471
00:21:08,450 --> 00:21:11,400
So, the clown works
on that metaphorical level
472
00:21:11,420 --> 00:21:14,070
that it's saying this is
what the decade was like.
473
00:21:14,090 --> 00:21:15,300
On the outside, it's one thing.
474
00:21:15,330 --> 00:21:18,070
Inside, it's something
completely different.
475
00:21:18,100 --> 00:21:20,270
The mythology
of clowns being scary
476
00:21:20,300 --> 00:21:24,240
has exponentially grown
over the last 20 years.
477
00:21:24,270 --> 00:21:25,480
Fuck you!
478
00:21:25,500 --> 00:21:28,580
I do feel as though this book
479
00:21:28,610 --> 00:21:31,050
and this movie
had some influence on that.
480
00:21:31,080 --> 00:21:33,150
I was about five or six
481
00:21:33,180 --> 00:21:35,320
and I was in
a video rental store,
482
00:21:35,350 --> 00:21:37,220
and then all of a sudden,
there's this face
483
00:21:37,250 --> 00:21:39,290
just staring back at me,
and I just froze.
484
00:21:39,320 --> 00:21:40,590
Like, if you see a spider,
you freeze with fear,
485
00:21:40,620 --> 00:21:41,860
and I just froze.
486
00:21:41,890 --> 00:21:45,130
People,
I think, perceptions change
487
00:21:45,160 --> 00:21:47,270
because that's what
they're being sold.
488
00:21:47,290 --> 00:21:50,100
They're being sold
that clowns are scary.
489
00:21:50,130 --> 00:21:51,370
Sightings of a mysterious clown
490
00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:52,540
have been creeping out
491
00:21:52,560 --> 00:21:53,670
some people in Staten Island.
492
00:21:53,700 --> 00:21:55,480
Media sites have been abuzz
with stories
493
00:21:55,500 --> 00:21:57,810
of a mysterious
and creepy clown.
494
00:21:57,840 --> 00:22:00,210
And you know,
I'm sure that Pennywise
495
00:22:00,240 --> 00:22:02,520
and John Wayne Gacy
didn't do the best job
496
00:22:02,540 --> 00:22:05,150
in creating a positive image
of clowns.
497
00:22:05,180 --> 00:22:07,690
And I'm sure it wasn't
Tim Curry's goal
498
00:22:07,710 --> 00:22:10,490
to have people hate clowns
for the rest of their lives.
499
00:22:10,510 --> 00:22:12,160
But I think it is
kind of a hallmark
500
00:22:12,180 --> 00:22:13,560
of a good performance.
501
00:22:13,580 --> 00:22:15,830
He had a tremendous impact on
502
00:22:15,850 --> 00:22:18,260
growing people's fears
about clowns.
503
00:22:18,290 --> 00:22:20,270
I can't say
that I ever saw clowns
504
00:22:20,290 --> 00:22:21,800
as being threatening,
505
00:22:21,830 --> 00:22:24,340
although I loved
being threatening.
506
00:22:24,360 --> 00:22:26,640
That's it! Let go!
507
00:22:26,660 --> 00:22:28,410
Be afraid!
508
00:22:28,430 --> 00:22:30,180
It was a lot of fun.
509
00:22:30,200 --> 00:22:31,380
There's enough room
510
00:22:31,400 --> 00:22:34,210
in our understanding of clowns
511
00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:36,820
to have some of them
be not so scary,
512
00:22:36,840 --> 00:22:38,620
to be sweet and nice,
513
00:22:38,640 --> 00:22:40,850
and maybe some of them
just downright awesome.
514
00:22:40,880 --> 00:22:42,820
Beep-beep.
515
00:22:55,790 --> 00:22:57,740
Push this closer
to the monster, please.
516
00:23:00,700 --> 00:23:02,310
A little farther,
Tim. Find the light.
517
00:23:02,330 --> 00:23:03,880
All right, here
we go. Yeah. Thank you.
518
00:23:03,900 --> 00:23:04,780
And clear, please.
519
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:06,650
And action!
520
00:23:06,670 --> 00:23:08,880
I believe casting has been
521
00:23:08,910 --> 00:23:11,180
as much a contributing factor
522
00:23:11,210 --> 00:23:13,890
to the success
of my version of IT
523
00:23:13,910 --> 00:23:15,860
as any other factor at all.
524
00:23:15,880 --> 00:23:18,860
It was beautifully cast. Period.
525
00:23:18,880 --> 00:23:21,800
They brought me the script
and they said,
526
00:23:21,820 --> 00:23:23,860
"You want to do it?"
And I'm like, "Well, yeah."
527
00:23:23,890 --> 00:23:25,630
This is an amazing piece.
528
00:23:25,660 --> 00:23:28,330
We knew what we had
when we were working on it.
529
00:23:28,360 --> 00:23:31,670
Pennywise was
such a brilliant character.
530
00:23:31,700 --> 00:23:33,770
We were looking
for television leads
531
00:23:33,800 --> 00:23:37,340
to promote the picture
in our marketing campaign.
532
00:23:37,370 --> 00:23:39,350
Victoria turned her list in,
533
00:23:39,370 --> 00:23:42,610
and we began going after
the network-approved actors.
534
00:23:43,810 --> 00:23:47,190
We had approval
of Harvey Fierstein
535
00:23:47,210 --> 00:23:52,230
to star as Pennywise.
And we were saying,
536
00:23:52,250 --> 00:23:54,360
"We need to continue to
look on the list here.
537
00:23:54,380 --> 00:23:56,500
We don't know whether
the network will approve him."
538
00:23:56,520 --> 00:23:57,660
I think they'd
mentioned it was going to be
539
00:23:57,690 --> 00:23:59,730
either Roddy McDowell
or Malcolm McDowell.
540
00:23:59,760 --> 00:24:03,300
And they explored Alice Cooper
at one juncture.
541
00:24:03,330 --> 00:24:05,310
So, who else have we got?
542
00:24:07,360 --> 00:24:09,780
I do remember
that we had brought up.
543
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,510
Rocky Horror Show
and said, "Look at that."
544
00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:15,280
I had to buy the Rocky Horror
Picture Show album,
545
00:24:15,310 --> 00:24:18,310
I had to buy the books,
I had to buy the scripts.
546
00:24:19,680 --> 00:24:21,550
You're a very expensive date.
547
00:24:21,580 --> 00:24:22,660
I know.
548
00:24:22,680 --> 00:24:24,290
Just the freedom
of the character,
549
00:24:24,310 --> 00:24:27,230
the intensity
that he gave to it,
550
00:24:27,250 --> 00:24:29,700
was so wonderful
and you could see
551
00:24:29,720 --> 00:24:31,930
that this would
translate brilliantly
552
00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:33,570
into a horror character.
553
00:24:33,590 --> 00:24:34,730
How 'bout that?!
554
00:24:34,760 --> 00:24:38,570
We were focused on Tim Curry.
555
00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:39,810
Me?
556
00:24:39,830 --> 00:24:41,570
I think he's
one of the best actors
557
00:24:41,600 --> 00:24:42,880
that's ever come out of England,
558
00:24:42,900 --> 00:24:44,780
and I don't think
he gets his due.
559
00:24:44,800 --> 00:24:45,850
Was there any time in your life
560
00:24:45,870 --> 00:24:47,380
when you said, "I
want to be an actor"?
561
00:24:47,400 --> 00:24:48,720
Yes, I did, actually.
562
00:24:48,740 --> 00:24:49,450
What is there in it
563
00:24:49,470 --> 00:24:50,540
which appeals to you most?
564
00:24:52,380 --> 00:24:55,260
A sort of voluntary
schizophrenia, really.
565
00:24:55,280 --> 00:24:59,460
It's a high-risk profession
and I enjoy risks.
566
00:24:59,480 --> 00:25:01,460
He's created
so many iconic characters
567
00:25:01,490 --> 00:25:02,600
that we've known through time,
568
00:25:02,620 --> 00:25:04,800
and they've been
so uniquely different.
569
00:25:04,820 --> 00:25:07,270
You said that
being British in Hollywood means
570
00:25:07,290 --> 00:25:09,440
that you're usually stuck
playing a butler or a villain,
571
00:25:09,460 --> 00:25:10,470
but that's okay with you.
572
00:25:10,490 --> 00:25:11,740
I think that they probably feel
573
00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:15,010
that we bring some kind of
style to the... the job
574
00:25:15,030 --> 00:25:16,140
that... that we might not
575
00:25:16,170 --> 00:25:18,480
necessarily have acquired
in the States.
576
00:25:18,500 --> 00:25:19,610
Yeah, but you
know what I think it is about you?
577
00:25:19,640 --> 00:25:20,810
I think it's that
you're very seductive
578
00:25:20,840 --> 00:25:23,520
and, you know, I thought
if you were the devil,
579
00:25:23,540 --> 00:25:24,620
I would pay to go to hell.
580
00:25:25,940 --> 00:25:27,390
His Darkness character has
581
00:25:27,410 --> 00:25:29,960
stood out from any other
devil I've ever seen.
582
00:25:29,980 --> 00:25:32,330
Looking at
his body of work, I feel like,
583
00:25:32,350 --> 00:25:33,930
there's nothing
that he can't do.
584
00:25:35,290 --> 00:25:37,560
And the challenge was:
Is he available?
585
00:25:37,590 --> 00:25:38,730
I will kill you all.
586
00:25:38,760 --> 00:25:40,870
Is he interested?
587
00:25:40,890 --> 00:25:42,300
Can we make a deal?
588
00:25:42,330 --> 00:25:43,340
I'll kill you all.
589
00:25:43,360 --> 00:25:44,770
Will the network
be okay with it?
590
00:25:44,800 --> 00:25:46,640
You are priceless!
591
00:25:46,660 --> 00:25:48,710
Of course, everyone was.
592
00:25:48,730 --> 00:25:51,640
I didn't audition
or even do a meeting.
593
00:25:51,670 --> 00:25:53,610
They just asked me
if I wanted to do it,
594
00:25:53,640 --> 00:25:55,520
and I said, yes, I did.
595
00:25:55,540 --> 00:25:57,520
Tim Curry
just had all those elements
596
00:25:57,540 --> 00:25:59,910
that he would be fearless
in the role.
597
00:26:01,380 --> 00:26:03,790
Kiss me, fat boy!
598
00:26:05,550 --> 00:26:07,960
He brought
more to the character
599
00:26:07,990 --> 00:26:09,860
than what was
written on the page.
600
00:26:09,890 --> 00:26:12,330
So, he was
approved at the network
601
00:26:12,360 --> 00:26:13,930
and the rest is history.
602
00:26:13,960 --> 00:26:15,840
You all taste so much better
603
00:26:15,860 --> 00:26:20,070
when you're afraid,
really afraid!
604
00:26:20,100 --> 00:26:22,480
Tim
brings his considerable intellect
605
00:26:22,500 --> 00:26:24,300
when he does a part.
606
00:26:26,000 --> 00:26:27,910
I sometimes
ask myself that question
607
00:26:27,940 --> 00:26:29,220
after I've done a take.
608
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:31,550
One of the great advantages
is that you can whisper.
609
00:26:31,580 --> 00:26:34,450
I mean, that you can do things
that are very small
610
00:26:34,480 --> 00:26:36,960
which you couldn't do
on... on a stage
611
00:26:36,980 --> 00:26:39,460
and then that's what
I'm discovering about that.
612
00:26:39,480 --> 00:26:40,730
We didn't talk at great length
613
00:26:40,750 --> 00:26:43,930
intellectually about it
because it was clear to me
614
00:26:43,950 --> 00:26:46,400
that he had the correct
instincts.
615
00:26:46,420 --> 00:26:48,670
It's got to be true,
616
00:26:48,690 --> 00:26:51,570
whatever you're doing,
and the camera picks that up
617
00:26:51,600 --> 00:26:56,910
much more cruelly than
anything else.
618
00:26:56,930 --> 00:27:00,410
Tim Curry
managed to capture the humor
619
00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:01,750
that a clown can bring.
620
00:27:04,110 --> 00:27:05,790
And then
just managed to switch it.
621
00:27:07,110 --> 00:27:09,860
And be
this magnificent evil villain
622
00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:11,960
that would kill you and eat you.
623
00:27:11,980 --> 00:27:12,960
Like that.
624
00:27:12,980 --> 00:27:14,560
I'll kill you all!
625
00:27:14,580 --> 00:27:17,730
In a funny way,
it's a very simple performance.
626
00:27:17,750 --> 00:27:22,740
Take your pick,
B-B-B-Billy boy!
627
00:27:22,760 --> 00:27:24,570
Whenever you
see fearlessness in a colleague,
628
00:27:24,590 --> 00:27:26,440
it's always an inspiration.
629
00:27:26,460 --> 00:27:28,880
Some
wise person in the movie business
630
00:27:28,900 --> 00:27:32,680
said for directors the key is...
631
00:27:32,700 --> 00:27:35,480
90 percent of it is
casting the right actor
632
00:27:35,510 --> 00:27:37,520
and then
getting out of their way.
633
00:27:37,540 --> 00:27:39,850
Tim was a director's dream.
634
00:27:39,880 --> 00:27:40,990
A little further, Tim.
635
00:27:41,010 --> 00:27:43,460
Find the light, uh,
somewhere in there.
636
00:27:43,480 --> 00:27:44,660
There's not much there.
637
00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:46,830
Okay. There! There's some.
638
00:27:47,790 --> 00:27:49,930
I liked Tommy Lee a lot.
639
00:27:49,950 --> 00:27:52,860
He was very direct,
which was nice.
640
00:27:56,060 --> 00:28:00,740
Tommy Lee Wallace was a
brilliantly minimalist director.
641
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:02,410
Remember in-in the script,
642
00:28:02,430 --> 00:28:04,010
where I talked about,
643
00:28:04,030 --> 00:28:06,680
and I hope we still have it
standing by.
644
00:28:06,700 --> 00:28:09,050
He basically trusts his casting
645
00:28:09,070 --> 00:28:13,490
and just gives the actors
their head and lets them do
646
00:28:13,510 --> 00:28:14,820
what they do well.
647
00:28:14,850 --> 00:28:16,720
He was very
clear about what he wanted.
648
00:28:16,750 --> 00:28:18,730
Now, his hands come up first,
649
00:28:18,750 --> 00:28:21,560
and then pulls himself up.
There. That's it.
650
00:28:21,590 --> 00:28:24,630
Which was
great. I really liked that.
651
00:28:24,650 --> 00:28:26,500
Okay, your chin's a little low.
652
00:28:26,520 --> 00:28:28,570
Ah, that's perfect.
653
00:28:28,590 --> 00:28:31,170
Because then it
becomes a pleasure to deliver.
654
00:28:31,190 --> 00:28:34,610
I'll drive you crazy
and I'll kill you all!
655
00:28:34,630 --> 00:28:36,780
I'm every nightmare
you've ever had.
656
00:28:36,800 --> 00:28:39,680
I am your worst dream come true.
657
00:28:39,700 --> 00:28:43,650
I'm everything you
were ever afraid of.
658
00:28:43,670 --> 00:28:46,190
He did give me a lot of room.
659
00:28:46,210 --> 00:28:50,720
Pennywise
was a very dangerous invention.
660
00:28:50,750 --> 00:28:53,690
And I use dangerous
in the best sense of the word.
661
00:28:55,120 --> 00:28:58,870
What I mean by it is that
they're pitched at a level
662
00:28:58,890 --> 00:29:02,700
that totally can go very wrong
very quickly,
663
00:29:02,730 --> 00:29:04,200
with the wrong casting,
664
00:29:04,230 --> 00:29:05,770
with the wrong direction,
665
00:29:05,800 --> 00:29:07,570
with any number of
fill-in-the-blank
666
00:29:07,600 --> 00:29:09,140
mistake possibilities.
667
00:29:09,170 --> 00:29:14,980
Tim was the genius choice
that radiated perfection
668
00:29:15,010 --> 00:29:16,740
everywhere every time
he appeared.
669
00:29:29,050 --> 00:29:30,330
You guys don't have to do this.
670
00:29:30,350 --> 00:29:32,690
My dad says you have to know
when to take a stand.
671
00:29:34,760 --> 00:29:35,840
Let's get out of here!
672
00:29:35,860 --> 00:29:37,170
Yeah, let's go.
673
00:29:37,190 --> 00:29:39,710
We live in
dangerous times, boys and girls.
674
00:29:39,730 --> 00:29:43,180
I want you to be careful.
675
00:29:43,200 --> 00:29:46,680
Not just any
car. It's a bicycle.
676
00:29:46,700 --> 00:29:49,550
They always made the best noise.
677
00:29:49,570 --> 00:29:50,820
Come on, Laurie Anne.
678
00:29:50,840 --> 00:29:52,650
It's gonna storm.
679
00:29:52,680 --> 00:29:53,720
♪ The itsy-bitsy spider ♪
680
00:29:53,740 --> 00:29:55,520
♪ Went up the waterspout ♪
681
00:29:55,550 --> 00:29:58,260
♪ Down came the rain ♪
682
00:29:58,280 --> 00:30:01,630
♪ And washed the spider out. ♪
683
00:30:01,650 --> 00:30:02,900
No one even thought of
684
00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:04,860
going to Vancouver
in those days.
685
00:30:04,890 --> 00:30:07,070
I wish this
summer would never end.
686
00:30:07,090 --> 00:30:08,800
It's the best summer
of my whole life.
687
00:30:08,830 --> 00:30:10,800
Your hair is winter fire,
688
00:30:10,830 --> 00:30:13,560
January embers.
My heart burns there too.
689
00:30:15,030 --> 00:30:16,780
This was poor town.
690
00:30:16,800 --> 00:30:18,850
Yeah, still is.
691
00:30:18,870 --> 00:30:20,150
It's all I need.
692
00:30:20,170 --> 00:30:22,550
The wave
of filmmaking in Vancouver
693
00:30:22,570 --> 00:30:24,080
started in 1984.
694
00:30:24,110 --> 00:30:25,790
I think the dollar dropped.
695
00:30:25,810 --> 00:30:27,650
And so more shows started to go,
696
00:30:27,680 --> 00:30:30,190
"Oh, you can get a bigger bang
for your buck in Vancouver,
697
00:30:30,210 --> 00:30:32,260
and we're only
two hours away from LA."
698
00:30:32,280 --> 00:30:34,730
Hey!
699
00:30:34,750 --> 00:30:36,150
I'm back!
700
00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:40,830
When the time
came for us to start producing,
701
00:30:40,860 --> 00:30:45,070
I had Vancouver implanted in
my head as a place to go.
702
00:30:45,100 --> 00:30:45,870
You think
we're gonna let you have
703
00:30:45,900 --> 00:30:47,260
all the fun there, Billy boy?
704
00:30:50,270 --> 00:30:53,210
Having such a big production
over such a long period of time
705
00:30:53,240 --> 00:30:54,750
created a huge buzz.
706
00:30:54,770 --> 00:30:59,190
In '89,
it was really busy in town.
707
00:30:59,210 --> 00:31:02,680
Okay, here
we go. And roll, please.
708
00:31:05,680 --> 00:31:08,230
The studio that we used
was called The Bridges
709
00:31:08,250 --> 00:31:13,270
and it was an abandoned shipyard
building that was converted.
710
00:31:13,290 --> 00:31:14,500
I was
working at Thomas Special Effects,
711
00:31:14,520 --> 00:31:17,340
which is a local special effects
house here in Vancouver,
712
00:31:17,360 --> 00:31:19,110
owned by John Thomas.
713
00:31:19,130 --> 00:31:21,040
He had a great
stable of crew people.
714
00:31:21,060 --> 00:31:22,880
He had all these
people that he nurtured
715
00:31:22,900 --> 00:31:25,340
and had what we call
"real-world" abilities...
716
00:31:25,370 --> 00:31:28,210
Welders, woodworkers, people
that work with fiberglass.
717
00:31:28,240 --> 00:31:31,050
They are all the veterans
of the film industry
718
00:31:31,070 --> 00:31:33,020
that Vancouver has created.
719
00:31:33,040 --> 00:31:34,620
It put a lot of people to work.
720
00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:36,120
It used a lot of locations
721
00:31:36,150 --> 00:31:38,160
and it also put Vancouver
on the map.
722
00:31:38,180 --> 00:31:40,080
- Cut!
- Cut! Very nice.
723
00:31:53,030 --> 00:31:54,870
What are you guys anyway?
724
00:31:54,900 --> 00:31:56,880
We're sort of a club.
725
00:31:56,900 --> 00:31:58,710
I can
remember going to the movies
726
00:31:58,740 --> 00:32:01,410
and they used to have
Saturday matinees.
727
00:32:01,440 --> 00:32:03,920
We'd all line up,
usually with our money
728
00:32:03,940 --> 00:32:05,890
tied in a handkerchief
or something
729
00:32:05,910 --> 00:32:07,290
so we wouldn't lose it,
730
00:32:07,310 --> 00:32:08,520
and then we'd
get in the theater,
731
00:32:08,550 --> 00:32:11,690
and everybody would turn
their popcorn boxes into bugles
732
00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,890
and then the giant grasshoppers
would come on
733
00:32:13,920 --> 00:32:16,060
and destroy Chicago and London.
734
00:32:16,090 --> 00:32:19,170
I wrote about some of this stuff
in a book called IT.
735
00:32:19,190 --> 00:32:21,130
It's funny, I think a lot of us
736
00:32:21,160 --> 00:32:24,240
have only the haziest memories
of our childhood.
737
00:32:24,260 --> 00:32:26,240
I don't remember much of it
at all, what we did.
738
00:32:26,260 --> 00:32:28,980
We can access
some of the good memories,
739
00:32:29,000 --> 00:32:31,280
and maybe we can access
some of the really bad memories
740
00:32:31,300 --> 00:32:33,880
if a bully beat us up
on the school yard.
741
00:32:33,900 --> 00:32:35,080
You're dead!
742
00:32:35,110 --> 00:32:36,950
But what I discovered
in writing IT was that
743
00:32:36,970 --> 00:32:39,690
the more I thought
about my childhood,
744
00:32:39,710 --> 00:32:41,890
the more
those memories came back.
745
00:32:41,910 --> 00:32:43,690
There's symbolism everywhere
746
00:32:43,710 --> 00:32:46,390
in the writing
that Stephen King created
747
00:32:46,420 --> 00:32:48,830
to express the fears
of all children
748
00:32:48,850 --> 00:32:50,800
that go through feeling
like a loser.
749
00:32:52,790 --> 00:32:54,070
Feeling like an outsider.
750
00:32:54,090 --> 00:32:55,100
You're only here because.
751
00:32:55,130 --> 00:32:56,400
Mom says it's
our Christian duty.
752
00:32:56,430 --> 00:32:58,270
That's what
the Losers Club was about
753
00:32:58,290 --> 00:33:01,810
and that's the bond that kept
these people together,
754
00:33:01,830 --> 00:33:04,440
because they didn't find
sanity, peace,
755
00:33:04,470 --> 00:33:08,210
or even really a loving family
except with each other.
756
00:33:08,240 --> 00:33:09,820
Their chosen family.
757
00:33:09,840 --> 00:33:11,920
We're seven now.
758
00:33:11,940 --> 00:33:12,940
Lucky seven.
759
00:33:14,440 --> 00:33:16,060
The gold
of the book were the kids.
760
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:17,190
That's where I responded;
761
00:33:17,210 --> 00:33:19,290
I think it's where the
audience responded.
762
00:33:19,320 --> 00:33:22,290
That horror was
the icing on the cake,
763
00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,430
and very particular icing
in this case.
764
00:33:26,760 --> 00:33:30,100
We had
a casting director in Canada
765
00:33:30,130 --> 00:33:31,840
by the name of Sid Kozak,
and Mark and I
766
00:33:31,860 --> 00:33:32,870
did the U.S. casting.
767
00:33:32,900 --> 00:33:34,940
We were looking for three
768
00:33:34,960 --> 00:33:36,840
major things with the kids.
769
00:33:36,870 --> 00:33:38,940
One was a sense of humor.
770
00:33:38,970 --> 00:33:39,970
Richie Tozier's my name.
771
00:33:41,200 --> 00:33:41,880
One was they always
had to do a scene
772
00:33:41,910 --> 00:33:45,420
that was painful and heartfelt.
773
00:33:45,440 --> 00:33:47,920
You killed
my brother George, you bastard.
774
00:33:47,940 --> 00:33:50,360
And then
they also had to be scared.
775
00:33:53,120 --> 00:33:54,460
A lot of times,
when you see them right off,
776
00:33:54,480 --> 00:33:57,530
you go, "They're not prepared
emotionally to handle this yet."
777
00:33:57,550 --> 00:33:58,930
You're looking for an old soul.
778
00:33:58,960 --> 00:34:01,230
You're looking for people
that have a pain
779
00:34:01,260 --> 00:34:04,840
and kids that could
truly, truly feel depth,
780
00:34:04,860 --> 00:34:06,270
truly feel the fear.
781
00:34:06,300 --> 00:34:08,870
Without projecting it,
782
00:34:08,900 --> 00:34:12,100
truly feel the camaraderie
of the humor of the group.
783
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:16,050
And when you're coming in alone,
784
00:34:16,070 --> 00:34:17,920
that's hard for those kids.
785
00:34:17,940 --> 00:34:19,450
All these different characters
786
00:34:19,480 --> 00:34:21,790
that seem to come
from different backgrounds
787
00:34:21,810 --> 00:34:23,460
all had the same thing
in common...
788
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,830
They're misfits,
they're outcasts,
789
00:34:25,850 --> 00:34:28,260
they have an undesirable
home life.
790
00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:29,660
What you got there?
791
00:34:29,690 --> 00:34:31,160
They don't feel
like they're worth anything.
792
00:34:31,190 --> 00:34:32,360
It's the Losers Club.
793
00:34:33,490 --> 00:34:35,570
And yet,
when they all work together,
794
00:34:35,590 --> 00:34:37,840
they are literally unstoppable.
795
00:34:37,860 --> 00:34:41,840
I think the six of us
could put you in the hospital.
796
00:34:41,870 --> 00:34:43,180
Seven.
797
00:34:43,200 --> 00:34:44,510
We went to the producers
to do a mix and match.
798
00:34:44,530 --> 00:34:48,110
We wanted to have three
in each roll for the first one
799
00:34:48,140 --> 00:34:50,320
and see how the
kids worked together.
800
00:34:50,340 --> 00:34:52,920
It was
challenging having kids...
801
00:34:52,940 --> 00:34:54,550
Eddie, which way is Derry?
802
00:34:54,580 --> 00:34:56,390
and adults...
803
00:34:56,410 --> 00:34:57,490
That way.
804
00:34:57,510 --> 00:35:00,180
and you had to cast
both in the like.
805
00:35:02,550 --> 00:35:03,600
Like Stand by Me,
806
00:35:03,620 --> 00:35:05,500
the challenge was
in finding adults
807
00:35:05,520 --> 00:35:07,500
that would both physically
match up with them.
808
00:35:07,520 --> 00:35:09,240
This was a case
where I think the network
809
00:35:09,260 --> 00:35:11,570
was completely
right in its choices.
810
00:35:11,590 --> 00:35:13,840
You really needed to believe.
811
00:35:13,860 --> 00:35:17,310
Seth Green grows up to be Harry.
812
00:35:17,330 --> 00:35:19,310
I feel like
every one of those parts,
813
00:35:19,340 --> 00:35:22,450
there's a poignancy involved,
because those kids,
814
00:35:22,470 --> 00:35:25,580
I believed that they grew up
to be those people.
815
00:35:25,610 --> 00:35:27,490
At that
time, what was really popular
816
00:35:27,510 --> 00:35:30,490
was to find the iconic TV actors
817
00:35:30,510 --> 00:35:33,090
that would be ensemble players.
818
00:35:33,120 --> 00:35:34,630
The ideas kept coming.
819
00:35:34,650 --> 00:35:37,560
Richard Thomas for Bill.
820
00:35:37,590 --> 00:35:40,570
Those were quick decisions
in an office.
821
00:35:40,590 --> 00:35:42,270
John Ritter, Harry Anderson,
822
00:35:42,290 --> 00:35:45,040
Annette O'Toole, Richard Masur,
823
00:35:45,060 --> 00:35:47,030
Dennis Christopher, Tim Reid..
824
00:35:48,260 --> 00:35:51,110
Stephen King's IT.
825
00:35:51,130 --> 00:35:52,240
I mean, those were like
826
00:35:52,270 --> 00:35:53,980
a gold mine of actors.
827
00:35:54,000 --> 00:35:56,520
We were getting TV's best
828
00:35:56,540 --> 00:35:59,520
and then piled
Tim Curry on top of that.
829
00:35:59,540 --> 00:36:01,920
Well, we knew we had something.
830
00:36:01,950 --> 00:36:04,620
They all
came together wonderfully.
831
00:36:04,650 --> 00:36:05,890
That's lightning in a bottle.
832
00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:07,930
You just don't always get that.
833
00:36:07,950 --> 00:36:09,430
The adult actors wanted to
834
00:36:09,450 --> 00:36:10,630
spend time with the kids,
835
00:36:10,650 --> 00:36:12,460
wanted to get to know them.
836
00:36:12,490 --> 00:36:14,630
We had a Lucky Seven camp
837
00:36:14,660 --> 00:36:17,170
for the express purpose
838
00:36:17,190 --> 00:36:19,970
of having the children
and the adults interact
839
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,370
and work out business.
840
00:36:22,400 --> 00:36:25,280
Bill Denbrough goes like this.
841
00:36:25,300 --> 00:36:26,650
It's no accident.
842
00:36:26,670 --> 00:36:30,380
We brought the group that
wasn't being shot right then
843
00:36:30,410 --> 00:36:34,220
in for three days
simply to have them develop
844
00:36:34,240 --> 00:36:37,020
little tricks of that sort
so that it really would feel
845
00:36:37,050 --> 00:36:39,490
a veracity to the whole thing.
846
00:36:39,520 --> 00:36:41,130
When you see that first part
847
00:36:41,150 --> 00:36:44,060
and those kids who then later
become those adults,
848
00:36:44,090 --> 00:36:46,470
the end result was, I
think, very successful
849
00:36:46,490 --> 00:36:48,570
because the characters
were more in synch.
850
00:36:48,590 --> 00:36:51,940
I think
that paid just untold dividends.
851
00:36:51,960 --> 00:36:52,710
It was really important
852
00:36:52,730 --> 00:36:53,840
for Tommy Lee Wallace
853
00:36:53,860 --> 00:36:57,080
that all the kids
were bonded in reality
854
00:36:57,100 --> 00:36:58,710
so that that would come across
on screen.
855
00:36:58,740 --> 00:37:01,010
I mean,
are we men or are we mice?
856
00:37:01,040 --> 00:37:02,480
We're mice!
857
00:37:02,510 --> 00:37:05,250
You feel this trust
that he has for you.
858
00:37:05,280 --> 00:37:08,590
And as much as he knows
about all the characters
859
00:37:08,610 --> 00:37:10,990
and how all the puzzle pieces
fit together,
860
00:37:11,010 --> 00:37:14,130
he knew how much
our characters meant to us.
861
00:37:14,150 --> 00:37:15,230
To the Losers Club!
862
00:37:15,250 --> 00:37:17,260
- All right.
- To the Losers Club!
863
00:37:20,690 --> 00:37:23,140
The first kid that was cast
864
00:37:23,160 --> 00:37:24,140
was Jonathan Brandis,
865
00:37:24,160 --> 00:37:25,470
because he just was rich.
866
00:37:25,500 --> 00:37:28,170
And when you look at it,
oh, my god.
867
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:32,040
He can reach points of pain
and depth, very simply,
868
00:37:32,070 --> 00:37:34,180
deeply, very quickly.
869
00:37:34,200 --> 00:37:38,320
It's some kind of monster.
And it's right here in Derry.
870
00:37:38,340 --> 00:37:41,120
I had a crush
on Jonathan Brandis for sure.
871
00:37:41,140 --> 00:37:43,060
I thought he was pretty cute.
872
00:37:43,080 --> 00:37:44,560
My heart burns there too.
873
00:37:44,580 --> 00:37:47,190
I remember he was on the cover
of every, like,
874
00:37:47,220 --> 00:37:48,660
Teen Beat magazine.
875
00:37:48,690 --> 00:37:52,190
Brought an awful lot
of gravity to that role...
876
00:37:54,620 --> 00:37:55,500
George.
877
00:37:55,530 --> 00:37:59,310
that somehow was a good
emotional match
878
00:37:59,330 --> 00:38:02,340
for his adult counterpart,
Richard Thomas.
879
00:38:02,370 --> 00:38:03,610
George.
880
00:38:03,630 --> 00:38:05,610
I remember
Jonathan because we met,
881
00:38:05,640 --> 00:38:09,480
we talked, you know, to get
a feeling of the same person,
882
00:38:09,510 --> 00:38:13,050
but that felt like it was
an essential meeting to have.
883
00:38:13,080 --> 00:38:16,660
I don't know if he had to
put a mole on his cheek. He did!
884
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:18,190
They made him put a mole
on his cheek.
885
00:38:18,210 --> 00:38:21,060
Oh, the poor kid.
That's terrible.
886
00:38:21,080 --> 00:38:23,430
That's right,
he had to wear a mole.
887
00:38:23,450 --> 00:38:25,400
Oh god.
888
00:38:25,420 --> 00:38:26,330
They both had something
889
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:27,470
in their personalities
890
00:38:27,490 --> 00:38:31,270
that's serious,
that takes the cruel world
891
00:38:31,290 --> 00:38:34,670
and the hurts and the
angers and the angst of it all
892
00:38:34,700 --> 00:38:40,680
and takes it personally and
wants to do something about it.
893
00:38:40,700 --> 00:38:42,650
I'm going back in.
894
00:38:42,670 --> 00:38:44,480
This time I'm gonna kill It.
895
00:38:44,510 --> 00:38:48,220
There's a sense of nobleness
about both of those people
896
00:38:48,240 --> 00:38:51,220
and Jonathan had that
as a child.
897
00:38:51,250 --> 00:38:52,690
Now, listen.
898
00:38:52,720 --> 00:38:54,730
You guys don't have to do this.
899
00:38:54,750 --> 00:38:56,060
And he was the natural
900
00:38:56,090 --> 00:38:58,430
leader of the kid actors, too.
901
00:38:58,450 --> 00:39:00,600
He didn't do it
by making a lot of noise.
902
00:39:00,620 --> 00:39:03,470
He just did it
by being who he was.
903
00:39:03,490 --> 00:39:05,200
I felt
very close to that character
904
00:39:05,230 --> 00:39:06,740
when I read it.
905
00:39:06,760 --> 00:39:10,110
When a script comes to you
or a play text and you read it,
906
00:39:10,130 --> 00:39:14,550
you can feel the proximity
of the character,
907
00:39:14,570 --> 00:39:17,650
the affinity that you have,
and you can feel the distance.
908
00:39:17,670 --> 00:39:20,850
But with Bill, I just thought,
"Oh, no, I know how this feels.
909
00:39:20,880 --> 00:39:22,590
I know who this guy is."
910
00:39:22,610 --> 00:39:24,790
It was the
Bill-Georgie-Pennywise sequence
911
00:39:24,810 --> 00:39:27,690
with the observation
of what siblings were,
912
00:39:27,720 --> 00:39:30,860
but emotionally I believed in
the truth of those brothers
913
00:39:30,890 --> 00:39:33,330
loud and clear,
and I thought the scene
914
00:39:33,360 --> 00:39:35,570
was one of Steve's best.
915
00:39:35,590 --> 00:39:37,800
You made it for me?
916
00:39:37,830 --> 00:39:39,300
Can I go sail it?
917
00:39:39,330 --> 00:39:41,270
I remember
the scene assembling the boat
918
00:39:41,300 --> 00:39:42,540
with Jonathan Brandis,
919
00:39:42,570 --> 00:39:44,540
and giving him the kiss
and how awkward that was.
920
00:39:44,570 --> 00:39:45,580
Yuck!
921
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:46,700
But he was a great guy.
922
00:39:49,370 --> 00:39:52,520
I was completely stunned.
923
00:39:52,540 --> 00:39:56,720
I had no idea
that he had been suffering
924
00:39:56,750 --> 00:39:59,320
any kind of depression
or any other issues.
925
00:39:59,350 --> 00:40:01,630
All I knew is he was working.
926
00:40:01,650 --> 00:40:04,160
I think he had just finished
a movie with Bruce Willis,
927
00:40:04,190 --> 00:40:05,400
Hart's War.
928
00:40:05,420 --> 00:40:08,730
He had an incredible
run on Sea Quest.
929
00:40:13,260 --> 00:40:14,770
Hello.
930
00:40:16,270 --> 00:40:18,310
He'd learned
the craft of directing..
931
00:40:18,330 --> 00:40:21,580
What you do is sit at it
and watch '70s television...
932
00:40:21,600 --> 00:40:22,380
- Yeah.
- On a channel and...
933
00:40:22,410 --> 00:40:23,480
Just to find out all the ways
934
00:40:23,510 --> 00:40:24,650
you shouldn't direct
a television show.
935
00:40:24,670 --> 00:40:27,520
Um, it's just
they're shot kind of cheesy
936
00:40:27,540 --> 00:40:29,420
and I just kind of want to learn
how to do something different
937
00:40:29,450 --> 00:40:30,420
with television.
938
00:40:30,450 --> 00:40:31,690
He was doing everything
939
00:40:31,710 --> 00:40:35,330
a resourceful actor could do.
940
00:40:35,350 --> 00:40:37,600
I think he had everything
in front of him
941
00:40:37,620 --> 00:40:41,500
and I was excited
to see him moving forward.
942
00:40:41,520 --> 00:40:43,840
I was blown away
because he's my age.
943
00:40:43,860 --> 00:40:45,740
That was probably
one of the first times
944
00:40:45,760 --> 00:40:49,770
I ever even considered
my own mortality.
945
00:40:59,710 --> 00:41:00,710
Swear to me.
946
00:41:02,710 --> 00:41:06,690
Swear to me that
if It isn't dead,
947
00:41:06,720 --> 00:41:08,260
we'll all come back.
948
00:41:08,280 --> 00:41:11,230
The kids moved me enormously,
949
00:41:11,250 --> 00:41:13,530
and I think about
the scene at the end
950
00:41:13,560 --> 00:41:16,270
when they come together
having won the battle
951
00:41:16,290 --> 00:41:20,760
but not the war and hold hands
and swear that they'll return.
952
00:41:22,400 --> 00:41:24,680
Swear.
953
00:41:24,700 --> 00:41:29,580
When you have a project
that is such a good story
954
00:41:29,610 --> 00:41:32,320
and has such a good lead actor,
955
00:41:32,340 --> 00:41:35,720
it's really hard to
screw it up. musically.
956
00:41:37,550 --> 00:41:39,560
Finding a focus
was the first thing.
957
00:41:39,580 --> 00:41:41,290
What's the music going to do?
958
00:41:41,320 --> 00:41:44,530
It could have been the most
horrific alien ever
959
00:41:44,550 --> 00:41:47,500
to visit our planet
in the form of a clown.
960
00:41:48,890 --> 00:41:52,340
.but to me, it was
kids in jeopardy.
961
00:41:52,360 --> 00:41:53,910
Hands squeeze.
962
00:41:53,930 --> 00:41:55,740
I focused on the kids.
963
00:41:55,770 --> 00:41:59,610
To a large extent that's
because Stephen King and I
964
00:41:59,640 --> 00:42:00,910
are about the same age,
965
00:42:00,940 --> 00:42:04,550
so when he writes about kids,
that's my childhood.
966
00:42:04,570 --> 00:42:08,590
In the '50s when we would play
outside and build dams
967
00:42:08,610 --> 00:42:14,330
and all of that stuff, we would
score our activities ourselves.
968
00:42:14,350 --> 00:42:16,030
If it was an action scene,
we would do:
969
00:42:16,050 --> 00:42:19,930
"Nah nah nah nah nah."
970
00:42:19,960 --> 00:42:23,600
When they jump on Silver
to get away...
971
00:42:23,630 --> 00:42:26,610
- Go!
- Hi-ho Silver, away!
972
00:42:26,630 --> 00:42:28,810
The
reference of hi-ho Silver means
973
00:42:28,830 --> 00:42:30,940
that through their minds
was going:
974
00:42:30,970 --> 00:42:33,910
badump badump badump
badump badump badump.
975
00:42:33,940 --> 00:42:35,850
Now I couldn't do
the William Tell
976
00:42:35,870 --> 00:42:38,320
and get away with it
with a straight face,
977
00:42:38,340 --> 00:42:40,850
but that was the focus.
978
00:42:40,880 --> 00:42:43,620
We would
put the pictures of the adults
979
00:42:43,650 --> 00:42:45,760
up first and as they were cast,
980
00:42:45,780 --> 00:42:48,890
we put the kids that were
possible matches for them.
981
00:42:48,920 --> 00:42:54,800
And very early on Sid sent us
a tape and photos of Emily,
982
00:42:54,820 --> 00:42:58,040
who was the young
Annette O'Toole...
983
00:42:58,060 --> 00:42:59,840
Daddy, breakfast is ready.
984
00:42:59,860 --> 00:43:02,470
And she set a very high bar.
985
00:43:02,500 --> 00:43:06,710
We kept looking for that role,
but she was really an old soul
986
00:43:06,740 --> 00:43:09,620
that just matched
what we were looking for.
987
00:43:09,640 --> 00:43:12,680
The character of Bev
was like my mom's childhood.
988
00:43:12,710 --> 00:43:16,090
She grew up in the '50s,
her name was Bev, she was poor.
989
00:43:16,110 --> 00:43:18,390
I just felt like
I was playing her.
990
00:43:18,410 --> 00:43:21,690
She said, "Those are the exact
clothes that I used to wear,"
991
00:43:21,720 --> 00:43:24,530
so it was this
really unique opportunity
992
00:43:24,550 --> 00:43:27,030
to express my mother's story.
993
00:43:27,060 --> 00:43:32,740
Emily was a singularly
professional young actress.
994
00:43:32,760 --> 00:43:35,640
She was very mature
for her years.
995
00:43:35,670 --> 00:43:38,110
She understood
that the relationship
996
00:43:38,130 --> 00:43:41,950
between her film
father and herself
997
00:43:41,970 --> 00:43:46,520
was not the relationship
between her and me
998
00:43:46,540 --> 00:43:50,660
and that makes life
a whole lot easier.
999
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:56,730
For me, Beverly Marsh
was the 1950s female child
1000
00:43:56,750 --> 00:43:59,970
who was oppressed
based on her gender.
1001
00:43:59,990 --> 00:44:01,100
Bev wants to help.
1002
00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:03,870
I hope it's okay.
I mean, she's a girl.
1003
00:44:03,890 --> 00:44:08,840
.and very stringent ideals
of how women should behave.
1004
00:44:08,860 --> 00:44:09,910
Let me see that.
1005
00:44:09,930 --> 00:44:13,010
Bev's father is
extremely critical
1006
00:44:13,040 --> 00:44:15,610
of her developing sexuality.
1007
00:44:15,640 --> 00:44:17,120
Poetry from some boy?
1008
00:44:17,140 --> 00:44:19,950
That's a big theme
in the novel.
1009
00:44:19,980 --> 00:44:24,120
The domestic and sexual violence
against Bev is a major theme.
1010
00:44:24,150 --> 00:44:26,090
It's not as much I don't think
in the mini-series,
1011
00:44:26,120 --> 00:44:28,430
but it's there a little bit.
1012
00:44:28,450 --> 00:44:31,030
My agent
suggested me for Al Marsh
1013
00:44:31,050 --> 00:44:34,130
and the casting
director said, "Oh, no.
1014
00:44:34,160 --> 00:44:38,040
Frank's too much of a nice guy
to play that character. No."
1015
00:44:38,060 --> 00:44:41,010
They did three rounds
of auditions.
1016
00:44:41,030 --> 00:44:44,410
Finally, on the fourth round,
1017
00:44:44,430 --> 00:44:47,080
the casting director
let me go in and audition.
1018
00:44:47,100 --> 00:44:48,880
Casting against type when
1019
00:44:48,900 --> 00:44:52,080
you're in that kind of project,
1020
00:44:52,110 --> 00:44:55,590
that's part of our
being creative
1021
00:44:55,610 --> 00:44:58,520
and the agents and managers
submitting them and saying,
1022
00:44:58,550 --> 00:45:00,190
"Hey, what about this?"
1023
00:45:00,220 --> 00:45:03,900
In the room, the director says,
1024
00:45:03,920 --> 00:45:05,430
"Would you shave your beard?"
1025
00:45:05,450 --> 00:45:08,030
I said, "You hire me,
my beard's gone."
1026
00:45:08,060 --> 00:45:09,130
Daddy, please!
1027
00:45:10,030 --> 00:45:13,810
He felt so guilty
having to smack me
1028
00:45:13,830 --> 00:45:19,010
and be this intimidating,
domineering, abusive father.
1029
00:45:19,030 --> 00:45:20,710
Let me alone,
you just let me alone!
1030
00:45:20,740 --> 00:45:22,210
Come here!
1031
00:45:22,240 --> 00:45:23,580
And sometimes
you went a little over
1032
00:45:23,610 --> 00:45:25,980
the limits
in terms of discipline.
1033
00:45:27,740 --> 00:45:30,560
He always apologized
at the end of the day
1034
00:45:30,580 --> 00:45:32,120
but while he was in the moment...
1035
00:45:32,150 --> 00:45:34,690
You get right the
hell back here, Bevvy!
1036
00:45:34,720 --> 00:45:36,730
He was just really scary,
1037
00:45:36,750 --> 00:45:38,750
so I didn't have to do
a lot of acting.
1038
00:45:40,660 --> 00:45:42,660
The blood coming out
of the sink...
1039
00:45:45,260 --> 00:45:47,070
stayed
with me because for a while
1040
00:45:47,100 --> 00:45:50,080
I was like afraid to take
showers,
1041
00:45:50,100 --> 00:45:54,650
and there's that sewage,
subterranean element to IT.
1042
00:45:54,670 --> 00:45:57,080
Good afternoon, gentlemen.
I'm Beverly Marsh.
1043
00:45:57,110 --> 00:45:58,680
Annette O'Toole I had worked
1044
00:45:58,710 --> 00:45:59,950
with several times,
1045
00:45:59,980 --> 00:46:01,990
and I loved Annette
and the person that she was
1046
00:46:02,010 --> 00:46:03,360
and the actress that she was.
1047
00:46:03,380 --> 00:46:06,090
There
wasn't a lot that I needed to do
1048
00:46:06,120 --> 00:46:08,790
to become the young Annette.
1049
00:46:08,820 --> 00:46:11,060
They said that our mannerisms
were similar.
1050
00:46:11,090 --> 00:46:13,200
Well, I was thinking,
being Saturday now,
1051
00:46:13,220 --> 00:46:15,230
you could come down
with me to the Barrens.
1052
00:46:15,260 --> 00:46:16,740
My grandfather was an actor.
1053
00:46:16,760 --> 00:46:18,540
He was in Gone with the Wind.
1054
00:46:18,560 --> 00:46:20,810
I think they were having
a 40th anniversary party
1055
00:46:20,830 --> 00:46:23,140
and there was a lady there
who thought I was kind of
1056
00:46:23,170 --> 00:46:24,880
precocious and cute,
1057
00:46:24,900 --> 00:46:27,210
and put me to work
almost right away.
1058
00:46:27,240 --> 00:46:28,880
I was four.
1059
00:46:28,900 --> 00:46:30,980
The Jonathan Ritter match,
1060
00:46:31,010 --> 00:46:32,680
little guy, Brandon,
1061
00:46:32,710 --> 00:46:35,090
unbelievable from the moment
he came in.
1062
00:46:35,110 --> 00:46:36,290
Ten out of ten.
1063
00:46:36,310 --> 00:46:37,390
I remember getting a callback
1064
00:46:37,410 --> 00:46:40,660
and it being an audition
that I really wanted to get.
1065
00:46:40,680 --> 00:46:43,230
And there were probably
20 kids in the room.
1066
00:46:43,250 --> 00:46:45,730
There was a lot
of competition in that role.
1067
00:46:45,750 --> 00:46:47,730
I looked
around and I remember noticing
1068
00:46:47,760 --> 00:46:49,970
there weren't any other Bens.
1069
00:46:49,990 --> 00:46:54,940
So, I asked the AD,
"Where are the other Bens?"
1070
00:46:54,960 --> 00:46:56,980
They said,
"It's pretty much just you.
1071
00:46:57,000 --> 00:46:58,710
We're looking at
a kid in Vancouver
1072
00:46:58,730 --> 00:47:01,910
and I think one in Texas,
but I think it's gonna be you."
1073
00:47:01,940 --> 00:47:03,050
Nobody does that, right?
1074
00:47:03,070 --> 00:47:05,950
Nobody tells you
during the casting process
1075
00:47:05,980 --> 00:47:08,020
that it's probably gonna be you.
1076
00:47:08,040 --> 00:47:11,190
I had never been asked to read
anything like this before.
1077
00:47:11,210 --> 00:47:12,290
They wouldn't treat us like this
1078
00:47:12,310 --> 00:47:13,930
if Daddy were still alive.
1079
00:47:13,950 --> 00:47:15,190
Being a fat kid,
1080
00:47:15,220 --> 00:47:18,260
you literally don't have
a whole lot of roles that,
1081
00:47:18,290 --> 00:47:20,170
I don't want to say
have any meaning,
1082
00:47:20,190 --> 00:47:22,170
but... but certainly don't have
a lot of depth.
1083
00:47:22,190 --> 00:47:25,670
A lot of times, they're just
about food jokes or fat jokes.
1084
00:47:25,690 --> 00:47:28,010
What a porker.
1085
00:47:28,030 --> 00:47:30,040
They're
crazy of f-the-cuff one-liners.
1086
00:47:30,070 --> 00:47:31,780
They're the crazy characters.
1087
00:47:31,800 --> 00:47:34,850
Obviously,
body image is a real key issue
1088
00:47:34,870 --> 00:47:36,620
that a lot of kids
are dealing with,
1089
00:47:36,640 --> 00:47:38,920
probably more than
you even imagine.
1090
00:47:38,940 --> 00:47:42,720
I'd never been given anything
to read that wasn't that.
1091
00:47:42,750 --> 00:47:44,230
There was a lot of gravitas
with this.
1092
00:47:45,680 --> 00:47:48,090
I remember, "Wow, I'm gonna have
to be a real actor now."
1093
00:47:48,120 --> 00:47:50,760
There's a moment where
I pull some Sugar Daddies
1094
00:47:50,790 --> 00:47:53,300
out of my pocket and eat them
because I'm nervous.
1095
00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:55,600
It was explained to me
that there was some importance
1096
00:47:55,620 --> 00:47:57,170
behind that because
I protested a little bit.
1097
00:47:57,190 --> 00:48:00,170
I was like, "Ah, really?
1098
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:01,740
Do we have to do this right now?
1099
00:48:01,760 --> 00:48:03,710
And... and the way
Tommy articulated it,
1100
00:48:03,730 --> 00:48:05,840
it made perfect sense,
so I went along with the ride.
1101
00:48:05,870 --> 00:48:07,210
I was willing to do those things
1102
00:48:07,240 --> 00:48:10,650
because there was so much
more meat with the character
1103
00:48:10,670 --> 00:48:11,820
and so many situations
1104
00:48:11,840 --> 00:48:13,720
that I'd never been
able to portray before.
1105
00:48:13,740 --> 00:48:14,850
I did those things willingly,
1106
00:48:14,880 --> 00:48:17,280
knowing that there would be
a huge payoff in the end.
1107
00:48:18,850 --> 00:48:20,830
Knowing
that you were going to be
1108
00:48:20,850 --> 00:48:24,160
in the same movie with
John Ritter and Harry Anderson
1109
00:48:24,190 --> 00:48:26,670
and all these other
actors who I'd already
1110
00:48:26,690 --> 00:48:30,370
seen on TV at this young age
was a phenomenal experience.
1111
00:48:30,390 --> 00:48:32,070
I was a huge fan of John Ritter.
1112
00:48:32,090 --> 00:48:33,910
He was a massive
influence of mine.
1113
00:48:33,930 --> 00:48:36,780
Not just as the kind of
actor that he was
1114
00:48:36,800 --> 00:48:38,240
but the kind of comedian
that he was.
1115
00:48:38,270 --> 00:48:40,880
The type of physical comedian
that he was and
1116
00:48:40,900 --> 00:48:45,680
how deeply sincere he was
in all of his performances
1117
00:48:45,710 --> 00:48:47,150
regardless of the character
that he was playing.
1118
00:48:47,180 --> 00:48:48,950
How important is being a star?
1119
00:48:48,980 --> 00:48:50,690
Uh, it's not important.
1120
00:48:50,710 --> 00:48:53,290
Being thought of as a...
As a good actor is.
1121
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:55,160
You have
one of the most gifted comedians
1122
00:48:55,180 --> 00:48:56,160
of his generation too,
1123
00:48:56,190 --> 00:48:58,200
so obviously it's going
to be crazy, right?
1124
00:48:58,220 --> 00:49:01,300
He was always full of mischief.
1125
00:49:01,320 --> 00:49:04,000
Always up to something.
1126
00:49:04,030 --> 00:49:05,200
Here, boy!
1127
00:49:05,230 --> 00:49:09,040
That's it.
Oh, I can't stand it.
1128
00:49:09,060 --> 00:49:10,300
I can't stand it.
1129
00:49:12,270 --> 00:49:14,010
I had my two
kids come up and visit.
1130
00:49:14,040 --> 00:49:16,750
They were big fans
of John Ritter
1131
00:49:16,770 --> 00:49:18,150
because they watched
Three's Company,
1132
00:49:18,170 --> 00:49:20,190
so when I told them I
was working with him,
1133
00:49:20,210 --> 00:49:22,190
my stature went way up.
1134
00:49:22,210 --> 00:49:23,720
They have never forgotten it.
1135
00:49:25,050 --> 00:49:26,120
Cut!
1136
00:49:26,150 --> 00:49:28,390
We were all stirring up
our own fear.
1137
00:49:28,420 --> 00:49:30,930
That's what we did at work
all day internally,
1138
00:49:30,950 --> 00:49:33,400
to be ready to jump
into these scenes,
1139
00:49:33,420 --> 00:49:36,840
which were kind of hard
and kind of dark.
1140
00:49:36,860 --> 00:49:38,770
John would always lift us
up with humor.
1141
00:49:38,790 --> 00:49:42,110
He's always got humor
in his back pocket and
1142
00:49:42,130 --> 00:49:44,140
I know it served us really well.
1143
00:49:44,170 --> 00:49:46,080
Here's a comic actor asked
1144
00:49:46,100 --> 00:49:48,280
to play the dramatic role,
1145
00:49:48,300 --> 00:49:52,720
and I never doubted
for a minute that he could.
1146
00:49:52,740 --> 00:49:53,950
Mike?
1147
00:49:53,980 --> 00:49:57,320
Yeah, buddy.
Listen, It. It's come back.
1148
00:50:00,050 --> 00:50:04,730
He walked in and made
everyone around him better,
1149
00:50:04,750 --> 00:50:07,170
like a good team player
in a sport,
1150
00:50:07,190 --> 00:50:11,140
just by his professionalism,
his sense of preparedness,
1151
00:50:11,160 --> 00:50:14,170
and his ability to
get down to business
1152
00:50:14,200 --> 00:50:17,140
while still cracking wise
and having fun.
1153
00:50:17,170 --> 00:50:19,740
John had a presence
about himself
1154
00:50:19,770 --> 00:50:22,780
that interestingly related
more to young people.
1155
00:50:22,810 --> 00:50:24,250
Hang tough, champ.
You're gonna make it.
1156
00:50:24,270 --> 00:50:26,150
He was adored by young people.
1157
00:50:26,180 --> 00:50:27,890
He really appreciated
1158
00:50:27,910 --> 00:50:30,860
that we were just kids and
1159
00:50:30,880 --> 00:50:33,860
sets should be
an enjoyable place to be.
1160
00:50:33,880 --> 00:50:35,330
Maybe he was a
little bit responsible
1161
00:50:35,350 --> 00:50:36,830
for all the boys' antics.
1162
00:50:36,850 --> 00:50:38,760
I wouldn't be surprised.
1163
00:50:38,790 --> 00:50:39,530
He was, you know,
1164
00:50:39,560 --> 00:50:41,030
really interested in meeting me.
1165
00:50:41,060 --> 00:50:44,270
I was him. He was... he was
one of my idols.
1166
00:50:44,290 --> 00:50:47,410
But there was always a running
joke that of all the kids,
1167
00:50:47,430 --> 00:50:51,340
I looked the least like my
counterpart,
1168
00:50:51,370 --> 00:50:53,310
and he was quick to sort of
notice that as well.
1169
00:50:53,340 --> 00:50:55,110
So he pulled me aside and said,
1170
00:50:55,140 --> 00:50:57,150
"Hey, let's spend
some time together
1171
00:50:57,170 --> 00:50:59,250
and think of some things
that we can do
1172
00:50:59,270 --> 00:51:01,190
that will sort of
bridge that gap."
1173
00:51:01,210 --> 00:51:02,820
There's that reveal
where I'm standing there
1174
00:51:02,850 --> 00:51:05,020
in the classroom
and then we cut to him
1175
00:51:05,050 --> 00:51:06,860
and he's biting
his nail as well.
1176
00:51:06,880 --> 00:51:08,160
That was what we came up with.
1177
00:51:08,180 --> 00:51:10,500
We tossed the
football around on set with him
1178
00:51:10,520 --> 00:51:14,170
because he was open to coming in
and playing with the kids.
1179
00:51:14,190 --> 00:51:15,870
And I still
remember him saying, you know,
1180
00:51:15,890 --> 00:51:17,500
when he was,
"Okay, okay, I've had enough,"
1181
00:51:17,530 --> 00:51:19,900
and we're like "Oh come on,
just a couple more,"
1182
00:51:19,930 --> 00:51:20,870
he was like,
"When I had no hair on my balls,
1183
00:51:20,900 --> 00:51:23,810
I could throw the ball
for hours."
1184
00:51:23,830 --> 00:51:24,940
Everybody had a Game Boy,
1185
00:51:24,970 --> 00:51:27,280
so I was playing my Game Boy.
I was playing Tetris,
1186
00:51:27,300 --> 00:51:28,180
and he walked up to me
and he said,
1187
00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:31,150
"What is this?"
I said, "It's Tetris."
1188
00:51:31,170 --> 00:51:32,920
"Tetris?"
I said, "Yeah, Tetris.
1189
00:51:32,940 --> 00:51:34,390
It's a game. Everybody knows Tetris.
1190
00:51:34,410 --> 00:51:36,490
You live under a rock?"
1191
00:51:36,510 --> 00:51:38,490
He grabs it out of my hand
and he starts playing.
1192
00:51:38,510 --> 00:51:40,390
And... and from then on
I realized,
1193
00:51:40,420 --> 00:51:41,830
"Okay, well, he's cool.
1194
00:51:41,850 --> 00:51:43,090
He's not just John Ritter
the actor.
1195
00:51:43,120 --> 00:51:45,060
He's John Ritter, my peer.
1196
00:51:45,090 --> 00:51:47,160
And maybe if I'm lucky,
my buddy."
1197
00:51:50,530 --> 00:51:52,600
I got a call to come in
1198
00:51:52,630 --> 00:51:55,070
and speak with the
directors for this mini-series.
1199
00:51:55,100 --> 00:51:56,440
I had not read the book,
1200
00:51:56,470 --> 00:52:00,450
so of course I rushed out and
spent all night
1201
00:52:00,470 --> 00:52:03,150
and part of the day,
because Stephen King writes
1202
00:52:03,170 --> 00:52:05,110
so many long books.
1203
00:52:06,410 --> 00:52:07,950
I took on the role
for two reasons.
1204
00:52:07,980 --> 00:52:09,550
One, it was a nice gig,
1205
00:52:09,580 --> 00:52:12,460
and it was going to be
for a long time up in Vancouver.
1206
00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:14,860
The other reason was working
with some of these actors
1207
00:52:14,880 --> 00:52:17,430
that I had admired,
worked with one or two of them,
1208
00:52:17,450 --> 00:52:19,490
so that was really
the... the two main reasons.
1209
00:52:21,460 --> 00:52:23,330
I brought this whole
photo album from home.
1210
00:52:23,360 --> 00:52:26,100
Marlon was really wonderful
1211
00:52:26,130 --> 00:52:30,410
and he did this little monologue
at the beginning of the audition
1212
00:52:30,430 --> 00:52:34,110
that was simple, deep, and
had a lot of thought in it.
1213
00:52:34,140 --> 00:52:36,480
There was an
Easter egg hunt here,
1214
00:52:36,510 --> 00:52:39,480
but the ironworks exploded
and all these people got killed.
1215
00:52:39,510 --> 00:52:40,750
The lines
that they had me reading
1216
00:52:40,780 --> 00:52:45,120
were pretty much the lines from
the actual classroom scene.
1217
00:52:45,150 --> 00:52:47,360
That role
was so hard to audition for.
1218
00:52:47,380 --> 00:52:52,200
It has very little material
in the group scenes
1219
00:52:52,220 --> 00:52:55,070
and takes a lot of
negative language.
1220
00:52:55,090 --> 00:52:57,200
When you're casting
and you're being a bully
1221
00:52:57,230 --> 00:53:01,410
to all these kids. wow,
it takes a lot out of the day.
1222
00:53:01,430 --> 00:53:04,310
Thank god, he looked physically
1223
00:53:04,330 --> 00:53:06,280
a lot like what I looked like
at his age.
1224
00:53:06,300 --> 00:53:07,410
You know, you always wonder,
"Oh my god,
1225
00:53:07,440 --> 00:53:10,520
he'll get somebody here
who looks nothing like me."
1226
00:53:10,540 --> 00:53:12,020
You know, like they bring
a white guy to play me.
1227
00:53:12,040 --> 00:53:14,290
No, it didn't happen!
1228
00:53:14,310 --> 00:53:17,290
Mike represents to
me a few souls that I have met
1229
00:53:17,310 --> 00:53:18,920
in my journey in life,
1230
00:53:18,950 --> 00:53:21,690
and they're people who,
for whatever reason,
1231
00:53:21,720 --> 00:53:26,200
something happened in their
childhood or young adulthood
1232
00:53:26,220 --> 00:53:28,500
that has affected them
for the rest of their life.
1233
00:53:30,630 --> 00:53:32,640
I knew of a few people like him,
1234
00:53:32,660 --> 00:53:35,610
and some ended
in very tragic situations,
1235
00:53:35,630 --> 00:53:38,510
some fate just never seemed
to bless them
1236
00:53:38,530 --> 00:53:40,350
with a good hand, you know?
1237
00:53:40,370 --> 00:53:42,380
It's like always
throwing snake eyes.
1238
00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:44,080
And I think Mike
was that kind of guy.
1239
00:53:44,110 --> 00:53:45,950
I think that all of them
had a sense of that,
1240
00:53:45,970 --> 00:53:47,320
that they were on their way,
1241
00:53:47,340 --> 00:53:50,290
they were young people
full of life, full of wonder,
1242
00:53:50,310 --> 00:53:53,090
and all of a sudden, this
horrible thing happened to them
1243
00:53:53,120 --> 00:53:54,560
for the rest of their life.
1244
00:53:54,580 --> 00:53:58,660
They have been hiding
in psychological fear of life.
1245
00:53:58,690 --> 00:54:01,630
And to me, Mike
is the center spoke
1246
00:54:01,660 --> 00:54:03,060
that brought it
all back together.
1247
00:54:04,730 --> 00:54:06,200
Lucky seven.
1248
00:54:06,230 --> 00:54:07,340
That's how in the series
1249
00:54:07,360 --> 00:54:09,510
when they got a phone call
from him,
1250
00:54:09,530 --> 00:54:11,050
didn't take a whole lot
of explanation.
1251
00:54:12,430 --> 00:54:14,650
- Yeah?
- This is Mike Hanlon, Bill.
1252
00:54:14,670 --> 00:54:16,450
Immediately
they know what this is about.
1253
00:54:16,470 --> 00:54:18,650
Bill, It's back.
1254
00:54:18,670 --> 00:54:21,550
Now they have to decide,
do they want to participate.
1255
00:54:21,580 --> 00:54:22,820
On my honor I will do my best
1256
00:54:22,840 --> 00:54:25,320
to do my duty to God
and my country.
1257
00:54:25,350 --> 00:54:27,030
Stephen King's big secret
1258
00:54:27,050 --> 00:54:30,060
is about the wonders and
horrors of childhood...
1259
00:54:30,090 --> 00:54:32,100
Stanley boy.
1260
00:54:33,290 --> 00:54:35,300
And how you get through it
1261
00:54:35,320 --> 00:54:37,440
and how important friends are
1262
00:54:37,460 --> 00:54:41,710
and bonding with special
people, like-minded youngsters.
1263
00:54:41,730 --> 00:54:45,280
Those bonds can be
as strong as steel
1264
00:54:45,300 --> 00:54:49,510
and his story is a demonstration
of just how strong,
1265
00:54:49,540 --> 00:54:51,250
when they made a promise
to each other
1266
00:54:51,270 --> 00:54:53,440
to return if It came back.
1267
00:54:54,740 --> 00:54:57,290
I swear it.
1268
00:54:57,310 --> 00:54:59,090
They were very solemn about it
1269
00:54:59,110 --> 00:55:01,090
and they meant it.
1270
00:55:01,120 --> 00:55:04,630
And you see what happens when
they have to keep that promise,
1271
00:55:04,650 --> 00:55:06,560
especially in the case of Stan,
1272
00:55:06,590 --> 00:55:08,530
who couldn't face
keeping the promise.
1273
00:55:08,560 --> 00:55:12,340
It was that horrible for
him, and so he didn't bother
1274
00:55:12,360 --> 00:55:16,310
to go back. but he did
something else instead.
1275
00:55:16,330 --> 00:55:18,710
I think I'll take a bath.
1276
00:55:18,730 --> 00:55:20,680
Stan was
most affected by Pennywise
1277
00:55:20,700 --> 00:55:23,450
and I suspect that
even as an adult,
1278
00:55:23,470 --> 00:55:26,780
that memory never was
very far from his mind.
1279
00:55:26,810 --> 00:55:31,520
Stan saw It face to face.
1280
00:55:31,550 --> 00:55:33,320
Not the clown,
1281
00:55:33,350 --> 00:55:36,160
but he saw
what was behind the clown.
1282
00:55:36,180 --> 00:55:38,400
When he got the call
from Mike Hanlon...
1283
00:55:38,420 --> 00:55:39,400
Who did you say?
1284
00:55:39,420 --> 00:55:40,730
Mike Hanlon.
1285
00:55:40,760 --> 00:55:41,800
to
come back to Derry,
1286
00:55:41,820 --> 00:55:44,240
it brought back
so much trauma to him
1287
00:55:44,260 --> 00:55:46,800
that he just couldn't
go on anymore.
1288
00:55:46,830 --> 00:55:52,110
He couldn't even fathom the idea
of possibly facing It again.
1289
00:55:52,130 --> 00:55:53,340
Goodbye.
1290
00:55:53,370 --> 00:55:55,450
Bye, Stan.
1291
00:55:55,470 --> 00:55:57,640
And he chose an easy way out.
1292
00:56:06,250 --> 00:56:07,360
For somebody like me who
grew up in the '70s,
1293
00:56:07,380 --> 00:56:09,460
It's a Who's Who.
1294
00:56:09,480 --> 00:56:13,100
Richard Masur, who I'd literally
grown up watching.
1295
00:56:13,120 --> 00:56:15,670
He was the classic
character actor.
1296
00:56:15,690 --> 00:56:18,100
So him coming in, even though
it was just for a day
1297
00:56:18,130 --> 00:56:20,540
and he had a small part in IT,
I was like, "Wow."
1298
00:56:20,560 --> 00:56:22,510
I got a call from Jim Green
1299
00:56:22,530 --> 00:56:26,180
and he told me they were doing
this miniseries.
1300
00:56:26,200 --> 00:56:30,310
We talked about what we could
do to tie the character together
1301
00:56:30,340 --> 00:56:32,550
between the adult and the child.
1302
00:56:32,570 --> 00:56:34,690
He asked what I thought
we should do.
1303
00:56:34,710 --> 00:56:35,920
And for whatever reason,
1304
00:56:35,940 --> 00:56:38,890
I immediately thought
of this thing where I was gonna
1305
00:56:38,910 --> 00:56:41,360
grab my ear, and he liked it.
1306
00:56:41,380 --> 00:56:43,760
I remember just thinking,
"I have no idea what I'm doing
1307
00:56:43,790 --> 00:56:47,470
and this well-respected actor
just said he likes my idea."
1308
00:56:47,490 --> 00:56:50,230
I was like, you know,
over the moon about it.
1309
00:56:50,260 --> 00:56:52,500
My favorite
part of the time I was there
1310
00:56:52,530 --> 00:56:54,640
was when we set
up that beauty shot
1311
00:56:54,660 --> 00:56:56,640
of all of us on the staircase.
1312
00:56:56,670 --> 00:56:58,710
I thought that was
a wonderful shot.
1313
00:56:58,730 --> 00:57:01,510
It was a lot of people
who were really well known
1314
00:57:01,540 --> 00:57:04,450
at that time
all standing up there.
1315
00:57:04,470 --> 00:57:06,820
To me, Stan Uris was an outsider
1316
00:57:06,840 --> 00:57:08,590
like the rest
of the Losers Club.
1317
00:57:08,610 --> 00:57:10,350
He was very by the book
1318
00:57:10,380 --> 00:57:13,190
in that he didn't deviate
from his school lessons
1319
00:57:13,220 --> 00:57:15,590
or what his parents
may have told him,
1320
00:57:15,620 --> 00:57:18,230
but he was able to connect
with these kids...
1321
00:57:18,250 --> 00:57:20,260
Lucky seven, Stanny.
1322
00:57:20,290 --> 00:57:21,270
I said I was in.
1323
00:57:21,290 --> 00:57:25,300
and then explore
a different part of himself.
1324
00:57:25,330 --> 00:57:26,770
One of the last casts
1325
00:57:26,800 --> 00:57:27,940
was a little kid named Adam.
1326
00:57:27,960 --> 00:57:29,670
Some guy killed George.
1327
00:57:29,700 --> 00:57:30,780
Pulled one of his arms
right off,
1328
00:57:30,800 --> 00:57:32,540
just like a wing off a fly.
1329
00:57:32,570 --> 00:57:35,480
He was smaller
than most of the other kids
1330
00:57:35,500 --> 00:57:38,550
and they were worried about the
size match-up and everything.
1331
00:57:38,570 --> 00:57:40,750
My character Eddie Kaspbrak,
1332
00:57:40,780 --> 00:57:44,660
I would say that he was kind of
the runt of the bunch...
1333
00:57:44,680 --> 00:57:45,960
How you doin', Eddie Spaghetti?
1334
00:57:46,820 --> 00:57:49,460
which was
already a fairly runty bunch.
1335
00:57:49,480 --> 00:57:50,600
He was the quiet, shy kid
1336
00:57:50,620 --> 00:57:52,360
who was also the youngest
of the bunch,
1337
00:57:52,390 --> 00:57:54,500
which I believe was true
in reality.
1338
00:57:54,520 --> 00:57:57,270
I think I was the only one
who wasn't a teenager yet.
1339
00:57:57,290 --> 00:58:00,510
I was still 12 and I think
everyone else was 13 or above.
1340
00:58:00,530 --> 00:58:01,710
I went
in and met with the producers
1341
00:58:01,730 --> 00:58:03,610
and we talked with Tommy Lee
1342
00:58:03,630 --> 00:58:05,340
and I guess they
got the feeling from
1343
00:58:05,370 --> 00:58:06,740
the work of mine
that they had seen
1344
00:58:06,770 --> 00:58:08,810
that I was right to play Eddie.
1345
00:58:08,840 --> 00:58:11,750
And of course, after that,
I devoured the book
1346
00:58:11,770 --> 00:58:13,820
and was wondering
how in the hell
1347
00:58:13,840 --> 00:58:17,620
they were going to fit
all of this beautiful writing
1348
00:58:17,650 --> 00:58:19,690
and all of these amazing
background stories
1349
00:58:19,710 --> 00:58:23,960
of these characters into
two nights of television.
1350
00:58:23,990 --> 00:58:26,360
On the last mix and match,
1351
00:58:26,390 --> 00:58:28,370
Seth Green wasn't going
to be able to make it.
1352
00:58:28,390 --> 00:58:30,870
And Victoria was like,
"Oh, my god,
1353
00:58:30,890 --> 00:58:32,400
we have to get him here."
1354
00:58:32,430 --> 00:58:34,540
Everybody was confirmed
except Seth,
1355
00:58:34,560 --> 00:58:36,510
and we were a little nervous
about that.
1356
00:58:36,530 --> 00:58:40,480
So I actually drove to his house
and picked him up.
1357
00:58:40,500 --> 00:58:41,780
It was exciting to know
1358
00:58:41,800 --> 00:58:43,780
that I was getting close to it.
1359
00:58:43,810 --> 00:58:47,350
When you audition,
you mostly don't get jobs.
1360
00:58:47,380 --> 00:58:49,820
You... you don't get 90 percent
of the things you audition for,
1361
00:58:49,840 --> 00:58:52,460
so to even get a callback
and be in the chemistry
1362
00:58:52,480 --> 00:58:54,460
part of it, I was very excited.
1363
00:58:54,480 --> 00:58:56,930
Seth
was full of piss and vinegar.
1364
00:58:56,950 --> 00:59:00,970
A great kid, clever and
cracking jokes all the time.
1365
00:59:00,990 --> 00:59:03,400
I was a very curious kid,
1366
00:59:03,430 --> 00:59:05,940
and then I was also interested
in filmmaking very young.
1367
00:59:05,960 --> 00:59:08,510
Seth was the most precocious,
1368
00:59:08,530 --> 00:59:11,580
but he had this intelligence
about him and he would say,
1369
00:59:11,600 --> 00:59:13,440
"I'm going to be a filmmaker
one day."
1370
00:59:13,470 --> 00:59:15,650
Part of what they liked about me
1371
00:59:15,670 --> 00:59:17,750
was me doing voices.
1372
00:59:17,770 --> 00:59:19,620
Your voices
all sound the same, Richie.
1373
00:59:19,640 --> 00:59:20,820
Thanks a bunch, professor.
1374
00:59:20,840 --> 00:59:21,950
or impressions.
1375
00:59:21,980 --> 00:59:24,420
By George, Martha,
it's the river Nile.
1376
00:59:24,450 --> 00:59:26,860
.or being
fast-witted or funny.
1377
00:59:26,880 --> 00:59:29,760
Well, hey.
Larry, Curly, and Mo.
1378
00:59:29,780 --> 00:59:31,060
Beep-beep, Richie.
1379
00:59:31,090 --> 00:59:32,890
That was the thing
that got me that part.
1380
00:59:34,860 --> 00:59:37,940
Richie, to me,
always seemed both fearless
1381
00:59:37,960 --> 00:59:39,560
and also terrified.
1382
00:59:40,760 --> 00:59:42,970
Tozier!
1383
00:59:43,000 --> 00:59:44,940
He was willing
to keep going forward
1384
00:59:44,970 --> 00:59:46,340
even though he was scared.
1385
00:59:46,370 --> 00:59:47,910
Richie!
1386
00:59:47,940 --> 00:59:50,350
but he was the first guy
to make a joke about it.
1387
00:59:50,370 --> 00:59:54,320
♪ You've gotten so ugly ♪
Oh, come on.
1388
00:59:54,340 --> 00:59:55,650
And then Harry Anderson,
1389
00:59:55,680 --> 00:59:58,860
whom I didn't know,
we had an instant rapport.
1390
01:00:01,450 --> 01:00:02,460
Harry and I chatted a lot.
1391
01:00:02,480 --> 01:00:04,960
And I'd watched him
on Cheers and Night Court.
1392
01:00:04,990 --> 01:00:06,730
I'd seen him do stand-up
and magic.
1393
01:00:06,760 --> 01:00:08,600
This is one you probably know.
1394
01:00:13,400 --> 01:00:17,380
So, I was into that guy and
excited to get to play him.
1395
01:00:17,400 --> 01:00:19,010
Directing kids,
1396
01:00:19,030 --> 01:00:20,850
in general, is challenging.
1397
01:00:20,870 --> 01:00:24,120
And he takes a powder and jumps.
Boom!
1398
01:00:24,140 --> 01:00:28,750
Jumps right over you and
suddenly you guys see him go,
1399
01:00:28,780 --> 01:00:30,790
and that'll be the end
of this first piece.
1400
01:00:30,810 --> 01:00:33,790
And directing seven,
sometimes ten,
1401
01:00:33,820 --> 01:00:36,890
12 kids all in one scene...
1402
01:00:39,490 --> 01:00:41,130
Don't go way over there.
1403
01:00:41,160 --> 01:00:43,430
Is hugely challenging
1404
01:00:43,460 --> 01:00:44,800
because they have
so much energy.
1405
01:00:44,830 --> 01:00:45,800
Whoa!
1406
01:00:45,830 --> 01:00:48,970
I think Seth was more or
less the ringleader.
1407
01:00:49,000 --> 01:00:49,940
We got in a lot of trouble.
1408
01:00:49,970 --> 01:00:51,110
Let's get out of here!
1409
01:00:51,130 --> 01:00:53,980
We were kids.
Both on set and off.
1410
01:00:55,870 --> 01:00:56,910
But I think
us getting in trouble together
1411
01:00:56,940 --> 01:00:58,850
also made us a lot closer.
1412
01:00:58,870 --> 01:01:00,650
Yeah.
1413
01:01:00,680 --> 01:01:03,090
We also had our little spats,
like we got tired of each other.
1414
01:01:03,110 --> 01:01:06,090
Jonathan Brandis and I
often took out our stresses
1415
01:01:06,110 --> 01:01:09,560
by bagging on each other
pretty intensely, actually.
1416
01:01:09,580 --> 01:01:12,000
But at the end of the day,
we were all pretty close.
1417
01:01:12,020 --> 01:01:14,870
If it were filmed now with
that same group of kids,
1418
01:01:14,890 --> 01:01:17,170
there would be a lot of them
who had diagnoses.
1419
01:01:17,190 --> 01:01:21,040
Maybe ADHD,
oppositional defiance.
1420
01:01:21,060 --> 01:01:23,170
Some of them just
would not shut up.
1421
01:01:23,200 --> 01:01:24,640
We were
dropping water balloons off
1422
01:01:24,670 --> 01:01:27,710
of our balcony onto
people's convertibles.
1423
01:01:27,740 --> 01:01:29,950
I think one time we managed
to do it with Kool-aid
1424
01:01:29,970 --> 01:01:32,550
and the person was fairly upset.
1425
01:01:32,570 --> 01:01:34,820
The police came and told us it
wasn't a good idea to do that,
1426
01:01:34,840 --> 01:01:37,050
especially since
we weren't citizens.
1427
01:01:37,080 --> 01:01:38,990
We thought we were
going to get deported.
1428
01:01:39,010 --> 01:01:42,660
I honestly did
not get a lot of their jokes.
1429
01:01:42,680 --> 01:01:45,930
All the other boys had read
the book, and in the book,
1430
01:01:45,950 --> 01:01:49,730
the kids all have sex with Bev.
1431
01:01:49,760 --> 01:01:51,870
The boys knew this,
but I didn't know,
1432
01:01:51,890 --> 01:01:54,840
and so they kept making
references to this fact
1433
01:01:54,860 --> 01:01:56,140
and they were just going
above my head.
1434
01:01:56,160 --> 01:01:57,170
So finally, my mom said,
1435
01:01:57,200 --> 01:01:58,880
"Why don't you
just read the book?"
1436
01:01:58,900 --> 01:02:02,050
And so I read it
and I was kind of horrified
1437
01:02:02,070 --> 01:02:05,180
but in a way it was
kind of liberating too.
1438
01:02:05,210 --> 01:02:07,950
Because when I was 13, you know,
you're going through puberty
1439
01:02:07,980 --> 01:02:09,890
and your things
are changing and stuff.
1440
01:02:09,910 --> 01:02:12,620
So it was just this
very sort of odd entry
1441
01:02:12,650 --> 01:02:14,730
into adolescence for me.
1442
01:02:14,750 --> 01:02:16,590
There were scenes that I
1443
01:02:16,620 --> 01:02:18,000
never thought twice about,
1444
01:02:18,020 --> 01:02:20,770
meaning the orgy scene
with the kids with Bev.
1445
01:02:20,790 --> 01:02:22,900
Pennywise and It are the things
1446
01:02:22,920 --> 01:02:26,040
that drive the
losers to, in the novel,
1447
01:02:26,060 --> 01:02:31,940
have this very,
very obscure and weird orgy
1448
01:02:31,970 --> 01:02:33,840
in the middle of the narrative
1449
01:02:33,870 --> 01:02:35,570
where they're all
having sex with Beverly.
1450
01:02:36,770 --> 01:02:40,650
It's to ward off It,
to keep It at bay,
1451
01:02:40,680 --> 01:02:43,550
because childhood
is what It loves.
1452
01:02:43,580 --> 01:02:47,760
I am an eater
of worlds and of children.
1453
01:02:47,780 --> 01:02:49,930
And if you want to push away
from the thing
1454
01:02:49,950 --> 01:02:53,100
that's scary to you,
you push into the thing
1455
01:02:53,120 --> 01:02:55,900
that it can't feed on,
and you do that through sex.
1456
01:02:55,920 --> 01:02:57,870
I just thought it was one of.
1457
01:02:57,890 --> 01:03:01,270
Steve's digressions
down a lane that didn't work.
1458
01:03:01,300 --> 01:03:02,240
I remember the guy
1459
01:03:02,260 --> 01:03:03,070
who played Officer Nell.
1460
01:03:03,100 --> 01:03:05,680
He completely lost
his shit one day.
1461
01:03:05,700 --> 01:03:07,040
There's a scene where we're all
1462
01:03:07,070 --> 01:03:08,810
in the Barrens,
building the dam.
1463
01:03:08,840 --> 01:03:10,180
The policeman comes along
and says,
1464
01:03:10,210 --> 01:03:11,950
"Hey, what are you kids
doing down there?"
1465
01:03:11,970 --> 01:03:15,750
and one of the kids
said, "Masturbating."
1466
01:03:15,780 --> 01:03:17,760
We all started laughing
and then also it carried on.
1467
01:03:17,780 --> 01:03:19,090
We couldn't get the next
1468
01:03:19,110 --> 01:03:20,960
like three or four takes.
1469
01:03:20,980 --> 01:03:22,860
We weren't focusing
1470
01:03:22,880 --> 01:03:26,730
and I remember getting the "this
isn't professional" lecture.
1471
01:03:26,750 --> 01:03:29,600
There were
times that Jim pulled them aside
1472
01:03:29,620 --> 01:03:31,640
and gave them the lecture.
1473
01:03:31,660 --> 01:03:35,740
And I sometimes would sort of
lose it a little bit on set
1474
01:03:35,760 --> 01:03:37,680
and say,
"Look, you're actors here.
1475
01:03:37,700 --> 01:03:40,780
I know you're having fun.
I love you're having fun.
1476
01:03:40,800 --> 01:03:42,810
You have to do your job."
1477
01:03:42,840 --> 01:03:45,320
Our director
came to me and he said,
1478
01:03:45,340 --> 01:03:47,690
"Jim, I'm losing it
with these kids."
1479
01:03:47,710 --> 01:03:50,320
So I said, "I need a meeting
with the kids
1480
01:03:50,350 --> 01:03:52,120
before we break for lunch
1481
01:03:52,150 --> 01:03:54,760
and I don't want
their parents there."
1482
01:03:54,780 --> 01:03:58,730
They rallied around and I said,
"You are making a picture.
1483
01:03:58,750 --> 01:04:01,600
If you came here because
you want to be an actor,
1484
01:04:01,620 --> 01:04:04,270
then I can tell you right now
whatever you're doing on the set
1485
01:04:04,290 --> 01:04:06,740
will reflect on whether
you work again.
1486
01:04:06,760 --> 01:04:09,940
I do recommend that you pay
attention to your director.
1487
01:04:09,960 --> 01:04:11,780
Shape up, guys."
1488
01:04:11,800 --> 01:04:13,340
And walked away.
1489
01:04:13,370 --> 01:04:17,210
The adults were...
1490
01:04:17,240 --> 01:04:18,720
When they got the...
All the adults together,
1491
01:04:18,740 --> 01:04:19,820
'cause some of them
knew each other
1492
01:04:19,840 --> 01:04:21,020
and they were all buddies,
1493
01:04:21,040 --> 01:04:22,820
they were actually more noisy
than the kids.
1494
01:04:22,840 --> 01:04:25,090
We used to try
to make each other throw up,
1495
01:04:25,110 --> 01:04:27,930
okay, by being as gross
as we possibly could, right,
1496
01:04:27,950 --> 01:04:29,730
to make the other person gag.
1497
01:04:29,750 --> 01:04:31,830
We're adults, you know, sort of.
1498
01:04:31,850 --> 01:04:34,900
It just got louder
and louder and louder
1499
01:04:34,920 --> 01:04:37,230
until the assistant director
finally came in and said,
1500
01:04:37,260 --> 01:04:38,840
"You guys have to leave.
1501
01:04:38,860 --> 01:04:40,910
You have to go outside
on the street.
1502
01:04:40,930 --> 01:04:43,170
You can't be in here because
we can't get any work done."
1503
01:04:59,110 --> 01:05:01,190
I want to make sure
you remember my name.
1504
01:05:01,220 --> 01:05:02,780
Oh god, Henry Bowers.
1505
01:05:07,720 --> 01:05:08,770
My agent called and said,
1506
01:05:08,790 --> 01:05:10,300
"Guess what?
We've got an audition for you,"
1507
01:05:10,330 --> 01:05:11,100
and I said,
"Oh really, for what?"
1508
01:05:11,130 --> 01:05:12,370
She said, "Stephen King's IT."
1509
01:05:12,390 --> 01:05:13,640
She said,
"It's a big production,
1510
01:05:13,660 --> 01:05:16,010
it's a miniseries,
it's incredible."
1511
01:05:16,030 --> 01:05:19,910
She said, "Please work your ass
off for this audition."
1512
01:05:19,930 --> 01:05:21,650
'Cause, she said,
"It's once in a lifetime."
1513
01:05:22,770 --> 01:05:23,980
I knew.
1514
01:05:24,010 --> 01:05:25,920
Hundreds of kids
had probably gone in there.
1515
01:05:25,940 --> 01:05:29,650
Big guys were gonna go in
there and be the traditional bully...
1516
01:05:29,680 --> 01:05:30,420
Which I don't find
very threatening,
1517
01:05:30,450 --> 01:05:31,560
to be honest with you.
1518
01:05:31,580 --> 01:05:32,920
And so I thought, okay, who can I channel?
1519
01:05:32,950 --> 01:05:36,690
I always refer to Dennis Hopper
because he's a very small man,
1520
01:05:36,720 --> 01:05:40,300
but he conveys an
intensity that's menacing.
1521
01:05:40,320 --> 01:05:42,400
Jarred was an exceptional actor.
1522
01:05:42,420 --> 01:05:43,930
You're dead, fat boy.
1523
01:05:43,960 --> 01:05:45,800
For someone who was his age.
1524
01:05:45,830 --> 01:05:48,770
The level of commitment
that he had was frightening.
1525
01:05:48,800 --> 01:05:49,810
I went in for the audition
1526
01:05:49,830 --> 01:05:51,110
and the casting director
grabbed me and he said,
1527
01:05:51,130 --> 01:05:52,410
"I've got to get you
to the producers right away."
1528
01:05:52,430 --> 01:05:54,710
He said, "You're exactly
what they're looking for.'"
1529
01:05:54,740 --> 01:05:55,850
And I said "Me?"
1530
01:05:55,870 --> 01:05:58,050
And again, here I was,
this scrawny kid,
1531
01:05:58,070 --> 01:06:00,750
and I was being
plucked out of that group.
1532
01:06:00,780 --> 01:06:02,750
He just had...
Something about that guy,
1533
01:06:02,780 --> 01:06:06,720
he had some sort of
menacing appeal about him.
1534
01:06:06,750 --> 01:06:08,730
Ta-ta, girls.
1535
01:06:08,750 --> 01:06:11,230
I could be wrong, but I believe
I auditioned for it three times,
1536
01:06:11,250 --> 01:06:14,830
and the first one
was for Henry Bowers
1537
01:06:14,860 --> 01:06:18,100
and I wanted that part
very badly.
1538
01:06:18,130 --> 01:06:20,040
I want you to think
about that before you die.
1539
01:06:20,060 --> 01:06:21,040
As we know,
1540
01:06:21,060 --> 01:06:22,840
Jarred Blancard
got Henry Bowers.
1541
01:06:22,860 --> 01:06:24,710
And what character
I played on IT
1542
01:06:24,730 --> 01:06:26,080
is actually
a little contentious,
1543
01:06:26,100 --> 01:06:28,780
because in the script
I was Patrick,
1544
01:06:28,800 --> 01:06:31,080
and I notice that IMDb,
1545
01:06:31,110 --> 01:06:35,220
and depending where you
look online I played Victor,
1546
01:06:35,240 --> 01:06:36,320
which always confused me
1547
01:06:36,340 --> 01:06:37,990
when the fans were like,
1548
01:06:38,010 --> 01:06:40,120
"Hey, we loved you playing
Victor in Stephen King's IT,"
1549
01:06:40,150 --> 01:06:41,360
and I was like,
"You mean Patrick,"
1550
01:06:41,380 --> 01:06:42,230
and they'd be like,
"No, Victor,"
1551
01:06:42,250 --> 01:06:43,750
and I'm like,
"No, it was Patrick."
1552
01:06:45,890 --> 01:06:47,000
The very first thing that I did
1553
01:06:47,020 --> 01:06:49,300
was another iconic film called
NeverEnding Story
1554
01:06:49,320 --> 01:06:51,430
where, ironically,
I played a bully.
1555
01:06:53,490 --> 01:06:55,470
I managed to get typecast
in kind of that bully role...
1556
01:06:55,500 --> 01:06:56,810
Not because I was big,
1557
01:06:56,830 --> 01:06:59,140
just because I was intense
and could beat people up.
1558
01:06:59,170 --> 01:07:00,840
Let me show you.
1559
01:07:00,870 --> 01:07:02,870
And I could really
burp on command.
1560
01:07:04,510 --> 01:07:06,240
Without throwing up,
as well, I might add.
1561
01:07:08,240 --> 01:07:09,390
In the book, it's-it's obvious
1562
01:07:09,410 --> 01:07:11,020
that Henry is badly...
1563
01:07:11,050 --> 01:07:13,520
I mean, abuse doesn't
begin to cover
1564
01:07:13,550 --> 01:07:15,190
what he suffers
at the hands of his father
1565
01:07:15,220 --> 01:07:17,230
and he has this true fear
of his father.
1566
01:07:17,250 --> 01:07:18,260
I'm not a method actor
1567
01:07:18,290 --> 01:07:21,070
but I did keep that
a bit in mind
1568
01:07:21,090 --> 01:07:24,030
when I was attempting to
torture and ultimately kill
1569
01:07:24,060 --> 01:07:25,800
these poor children, right?
1570
01:07:25,830 --> 01:07:29,040
He needed to transfer
those feelings of helplessness.
1571
01:07:29,060 --> 01:07:31,340
He wanted to impose
that same fear on other people
1572
01:07:31,370 --> 01:07:33,140
that he suffered
when he went home at night.
1573
01:07:33,170 --> 01:07:34,340
There's one scene in the film,
1574
01:07:34,370 --> 01:07:37,380
it's the only scene
where my character is vulnerable
1575
01:07:37,410 --> 01:07:38,450
and that's in the classroom
1576
01:07:38,470 --> 01:07:39,480
and that's when
he's being threatened
1577
01:07:39,510 --> 01:07:42,120
to be kicked out
after a disturbance.
1578
01:07:42,140 --> 01:07:43,420
There's a crack in my voice
when he says,
1579
01:07:43,440 --> 01:07:45,790
"But my father
will tan my hide."
1580
01:07:45,810 --> 01:07:48,160
and that sort of
typifies the fear
1581
01:07:48,180 --> 01:07:50,830
that he has of-of his father.
1582
01:07:50,850 --> 01:07:52,400
I actually get emotional
about this because
1583
01:07:52,420 --> 01:07:53,420
my dad's passed.
1584
01:07:54,920 --> 01:07:57,530
He, uh, wasn't
supportive at all.
1585
01:07:57,560 --> 01:07:58,900
He never went to
any of my plays,
1586
01:07:58,930 --> 01:08:01,970
he sort of scoffed at all of
my dreams and aspirations.
1587
01:08:02,000 --> 01:08:03,570
But I remember
that he came home from work
1588
01:08:03,600 --> 01:08:06,380
and I said, "Dad, I got it!"
1589
01:08:06,400 --> 01:08:10,380
and his shock and the pride
and the sadness
1590
01:08:10,400 --> 01:08:12,880
that he hadn't embraced
this dream earlier.
1591
01:08:12,910 --> 01:08:15,490
And from that point on, though,
it was nothing but-but pride
1592
01:08:15,510 --> 01:08:17,120
and-and-and
it was a wonderful thing.
1593
01:08:17,150 --> 01:08:19,490
I apologize
for getting emotional.
1594
01:08:19,510 --> 01:08:22,390
I wanted to be as
sensitive off camera
1595
01:08:22,420 --> 01:08:23,830
as I possibly could.
1596
01:08:23,850 --> 01:08:26,900
Yelling these racial slurs and
these obscenities, you know,
1597
01:08:26,920 --> 01:08:29,370
calling him, you know, fat boy
and all of that kind of thing,
1598
01:08:29,390 --> 01:08:32,270
I wanted to make sure
after the take that
1599
01:08:32,290 --> 01:08:34,240
he knew that
that's not the way I felt.
1600
01:08:34,260 --> 01:08:36,540
Or what, boy? Or what?
1601
01:08:36,560 --> 01:08:37,670
You know, he always told me
1602
01:08:37,700 --> 01:08:38,780
how uncomfortable he was
with having to say
1603
01:08:38,800 --> 01:08:41,350
some of the things
he had to say to me,
1604
01:08:41,370 --> 01:08:44,080
which was great.
1605
01:08:44,110 --> 01:08:45,320
'Cause it was
some harsh words, man!
1606
01:08:45,340 --> 01:08:47,080
It was some harsh words said.
1607
01:08:47,110 --> 01:08:48,320
I'd always apologize afterwards.
1608
01:08:48,340 --> 01:08:50,050
And the Americans were quite
1609
01:08:50,080 --> 01:08:52,290
astounded by that; they thought,
"Well, you're playing a part."
1610
01:08:52,310 --> 01:08:54,530
There's a
scene where I get confronted
1611
01:08:54,550 --> 01:08:57,160
by Henry Bowers,
where he's supposed to carve
1612
01:08:57,190 --> 01:08:59,160
the "H" in my belly.
1613
01:08:59,190 --> 01:09:01,230
Hey look, it's the fat boy.
1614
01:09:01,260 --> 01:09:03,030
Top of the day, fat boy!
1615
01:09:03,060 --> 01:09:07,570
And it was probably the scene
that I feared the most.
1616
01:09:16,270 --> 01:09:17,220
I thought for a moment
1617
01:09:17,240 --> 01:09:19,880
that he could very well lose it
1618
01:09:19,910 --> 01:09:21,320
and go ahead and just, you know,
1619
01:09:21,340 --> 01:09:23,590
start the artwork on my stomach
right then and there.
1620
01:09:23,610 --> 01:09:25,090
- Come on.
- Don't really cut him.
1621
01:09:25,110 --> 01:09:27,120
Cut him? Huh?
1622
01:09:27,150 --> 01:09:28,390
Cut him?
1623
01:09:28,420 --> 01:09:31,330
He made
it very easy to be afraid.
1624
01:09:31,350 --> 01:09:33,330
But I remember
that being probably
1625
01:09:33,350 --> 01:09:36,520
the most difficult scene
for me to film.
1626
01:09:38,560 --> 01:09:40,140
The only
source of disappointment for me
1627
01:09:40,160 --> 01:09:42,540
was the fact
that we couldn't go as raw
1628
01:09:42,560 --> 01:09:45,540
and as bold
as they did in the book.
1629
01:09:45,570 --> 01:09:47,410
The violence
is something that I just...
1630
01:09:47,440 --> 01:09:49,080
I wanted to go further with it.
1631
01:09:49,100 --> 01:09:50,380
I just felt it would have been
more effective
1632
01:09:50,400 --> 01:09:51,950
if we were able to do that,
1633
01:09:51,970 --> 01:09:54,120
knowing fully well
that we weren't able to.
1634
01:09:54,140 --> 01:09:56,250
Henry Bowers.
1635
01:09:56,280 --> 01:10:00,220
There were
two adults that were cast later
1636
01:10:00,250 --> 01:10:02,490
and Green/Epstein
were very sweet
1637
01:10:02,520 --> 01:10:07,100
about allowing us to look at
so me people that were friends.
1638
01:10:07,120 --> 01:10:10,700
Henry. Hen.
1639
01:10:10,730 --> 01:10:13,540
This is scaring me already!
1640
01:10:13,560 --> 01:10:16,710
It
Needed a special quality person.
1641
01:10:16,730 --> 01:10:21,410
And in this case,
he was being cast after the boy
1642
01:10:21,440 --> 01:10:25,020
who played Henry Bowers, who
was also a very special person
1643
01:10:25,040 --> 01:10:27,480
and had a strangeness about him.
1644
01:10:27,510 --> 01:10:32,120
I tell you, people will
always remember Henry Bowers.
1645
01:10:32,150 --> 01:10:34,190
Michael Cole, he was from a show
1646
01:10:34,220 --> 01:10:36,360
called Mod Squad
that I grew up on.
1647
01:10:36,380 --> 01:10:39,060
He wasn't traditionally a badass
1648
01:10:39,090 --> 01:10:42,170
but he just showed that side
and so he was just kind of
1649
01:10:42,190 --> 01:10:44,400
one of these little gem finds,
1650
01:10:44,430 --> 01:10:47,370
somebody that had some gravitas.
1651
01:10:47,400 --> 01:10:50,570
After all those years,
Michael had attained
1652
01:10:50,600 --> 01:10:54,480
a patina of strangeness,
which some of us do.
1653
01:10:54,500 --> 01:10:56,550
And so when he came in
to talk about it,
1654
01:10:56,570 --> 01:11:00,620
I felt very positive
right there and then
1655
01:11:00,640 --> 01:11:02,690
that he could pull
that roll off as.
1656
01:11:02,710 --> 01:11:05,460
, okay, that strange little boy
1657
01:11:05,480 --> 01:11:07,320
grew up to be this strange man.
1658
01:11:07,350 --> 01:11:09,060
I'll pay you back,
1659
01:11:09,080 --> 01:11:10,760
I'll pay you all back!
1660
01:11:10,790 --> 01:11:13,300
Not many casting
directors will do this.
1661
01:11:13,320 --> 01:11:16,230
I got down on the
floor crawling around,
1662
01:11:16,260 --> 01:11:21,270
and I was so shook up and sweat
was starting to run down,
1663
01:11:21,300 --> 01:11:27,110
and Victoria got down
on the floor with me,
1664
01:11:27,130 --> 01:11:29,780
sliding sheets of paper
in front of me
1665
01:11:29,800 --> 01:11:33,180
so I could get the cue.
1666
01:11:33,210 --> 01:11:35,690
Boy, what a champion.
1667
01:11:35,710 --> 01:11:36,750
I met Michael Cole
1668
01:11:36,780 --> 01:11:37,820
and he was perfectly polite
1669
01:11:37,850 --> 01:11:41,330
but not very effusive
or -or friendly,
1670
01:11:41,350 --> 01:11:44,260
and I-I actually backed out
of his trailer and I thought,
1671
01:11:44,290 --> 01:11:46,700
"I'm just gonna leave you alone
to your business."
1672
01:11:46,720 --> 01:11:48,630
So, he did a great job
obviously.
1673
01:12:05,740 --> 01:12:07,520
Pennywise is wonderful.
1674
01:12:07,540 --> 01:12:09,090
I mean, he's charming and scary
1675
01:12:09,110 --> 01:12:11,820
and both elusive
and enthralling, you know.
1676
01:12:11,850 --> 01:12:13,190
He's like any good drug.
1677
01:12:13,210 --> 01:12:14,490
Like you just want to go to it,
1678
01:12:14,520 --> 01:12:15,830
but then you regret it
immediately.
1679
01:12:15,850 --> 01:12:19,200
Pennywise
is much more overtly comic...
1680
01:12:19,220 --> 01:12:22,330
Won't do
any good to run, girly boy.
1681
01:12:22,360 --> 01:12:24,270
As a lure for the kids.
1682
01:12:24,290 --> 01:12:26,200
And as a sort of perverse
1683
01:12:26,230 --> 01:12:28,200
set of jokes for the audience.
1684
01:12:29,800 --> 01:12:33,240
But when he scares,
he scares the crap out of you.
1685
01:12:33,270 --> 01:12:37,350
He found the way
to really lure you in
1686
01:12:37,370 --> 01:12:38,850
like Georgie in the sewer.
1687
01:12:38,870 --> 01:12:40,180
My boat!
1688
01:12:40,210 --> 01:12:42,450
Exactly!
1689
01:12:42,480 --> 01:12:45,220
When Georgie
is first taken by Pennywise,
1690
01:12:45,250 --> 01:12:47,420
which is a great scene
when he follows the boat
1691
01:12:47,450 --> 01:12:49,330
down the street in the rain.
1692
01:12:49,350 --> 01:12:50,830
S.S. Georgie.
1693
01:12:53,590 --> 01:12:54,970
The effects guys had done this
1694
01:12:54,990 --> 01:12:57,830
brilliant job to figure out
how to get the boat to flow
1695
01:12:57,860 --> 01:12:59,130
all in one take.
1696
01:13:00,360 --> 01:13:02,140
No, please no.
1697
01:13:02,160 --> 01:13:03,840
Tommy Lee
Wallace opened the sewer grate,
1698
01:13:03,860 --> 01:13:04,880
which was just a manhole cover
1699
01:13:04,900 --> 01:13:06,880
which was about four feet away
from the sewer,
1700
01:13:06,900 --> 01:13:09,480
and had Tim crouch down
and speak...
1701
01:13:09,500 --> 01:13:11,310
Hiya, Georgie!
1702
01:13:11,340 --> 01:13:12,650
Into the sewer.
1703
01:13:12,670 --> 01:13:15,520
We
Had a strange day to shoot it.
1704
01:13:15,540 --> 01:13:17,150
You can almost always count on
1705
01:13:17,180 --> 01:13:19,120
overcast in Vancouver,
1706
01:13:19,150 --> 01:13:21,320
but this day
was sunny and bright,
1707
01:13:21,350 --> 01:13:24,190
but "We better go ahead
and do it because
1708
01:13:24,220 --> 01:13:26,460
here we are
and the set is built."
1709
01:13:26,490 --> 01:13:27,760
You can see the rays of sunshine
1710
01:13:27,790 --> 01:13:29,830
coming through the scaffolding
1711
01:13:29,860 --> 01:13:31,740
that they built to
create the rain.
1712
01:13:31,760 --> 01:13:33,770
I had trepidation about that
1713
01:13:33,790 --> 01:13:36,770
but the effect
was kind of wonderful.
1714
01:13:36,800 --> 01:13:39,580
The light was doing weird things
and of course you could see
1715
01:13:39,600 --> 01:13:42,680
the rain really well because
it was backlit by the sun.
1716
01:13:42,700 --> 01:13:45,520
Then you get
to the actual sewer.
1717
01:13:45,540 --> 01:13:48,720
That was a set.
It was done outdoors.
1718
01:13:48,740 --> 01:13:51,520
The set was up high
and Tim was just standing
1719
01:13:51,550 --> 01:13:54,260
with his face
up against the opening,
1720
01:13:54,280 --> 01:13:55,690
so we were on a riser,
1721
01:13:55,720 --> 01:13:58,760
looking down as if
we were on the street.
1722
01:13:58,790 --> 01:14:01,230
Little Georgie
at the beginning of the film
1723
01:14:01,260 --> 01:14:04,730
when he's chasing his
paper boat and I grab him,
1724
01:14:04,760 --> 01:14:06,940
he stopped and said...
1725
01:14:06,960 --> 01:14:08,440
"Tim, you're scaring me,
you're scaring me."
1726
01:14:08,460 --> 01:14:11,340
"It'll save you
a little acting, won't it?"
1727
01:14:11,370 --> 01:14:12,910
That wonderful little boy.
1728
01:14:12,930 --> 01:14:14,110
Do they float?
1729
01:14:14,140 --> 01:14:15,910
And Tim Curry's performance.
1730
01:14:15,940 --> 01:14:18,950
They float, Georgie.
1731
01:14:18,970 --> 01:14:21,380
to me,
that's what that scene is.
1732
01:14:21,410 --> 01:14:24,820
Not much in the way
of special effects.
1733
01:14:24,850 --> 01:14:27,220
You'll float too!
1734
01:14:30,480 --> 01:14:32,900
One of the scenes
that was left out
1735
01:14:32,920 --> 01:14:37,500
of the final showing of IT
was that scene where.
1736
01:14:37,530 --> 01:14:40,770
Sharon comes to the door
and is presented with
1737
01:14:40,790 --> 01:14:43,670
a fireman holding
the body of her son.
1738
01:14:43,700 --> 01:14:46,280
Holding me
with my arm in my sleeve
1739
01:14:46,300 --> 01:14:48,210
and the blood dripping
out of the sleeve.
1740
01:14:48,240 --> 01:14:49,280
It's pouring rain
1741
01:14:49,300 --> 01:14:51,950
and she opens the
door and there he is,
1742
01:14:51,970 --> 01:14:54,250
and I spent all day screaming
1743
01:14:54,280 --> 01:14:55,450
as we did take after take.
1744
01:14:55,480 --> 01:14:57,720
I guess since it was made for TV
1745
01:14:57,750 --> 01:15:00,320
that that was pushing
the envelope a little bit.
1746
01:15:00,350 --> 01:15:01,730
We were certainly
aware that we were doing
1747
01:15:01,750 --> 01:15:03,490
a horror movie for television.
1748
01:15:03,520 --> 01:15:06,260
George.
1749
01:15:06,290 --> 01:15:08,470
And back
then, we were very limited
1750
01:15:08,490 --> 01:15:09,830
to what you could show.
1751
01:15:09,860 --> 01:15:11,330
We were breaking new ground,
1752
01:15:11,360 --> 01:15:12,800
because I don't remember
1753
01:15:12,830 --> 01:15:15,410
before any kind of material
like this
1754
01:15:15,430 --> 01:15:17,370
that I saw on television.
1755
01:15:17,400 --> 01:15:19,840
Sci-fi, horror.
1756
01:15:19,870 --> 01:15:20,710
Float.
1757
01:15:20,740 --> 01:15:22,680
.blood, and there was
a lot of that.
1758
01:15:26,840 --> 01:15:27,920
And we had to work with
1759
01:15:27,940 --> 01:15:30,950
the program practice department
at all times.
1760
01:15:30,980 --> 01:15:35,430
There was a scene where
the kids become
1761
01:15:35,450 --> 01:15:38,960
blood brothers and sisters
and they cut their hand
1762
01:15:38,990 --> 01:15:42,300
and they place
their palms on palms.
1763
01:15:42,320 --> 01:15:44,940
We had to change that
1764
01:15:44,960 --> 01:15:46,700
because it was in the early '90s
1765
01:15:46,730 --> 01:15:48,470
and it was during
the time of AIDS.
1766
01:15:48,500 --> 01:15:50,940
So, we wrote the scene
to spit in their hand.
1767
01:15:50,970 --> 01:15:54,580
The advertisers
were very nervous.
1768
01:15:54,600 --> 01:15:57,380
This was a children
in jeopardy story
1769
01:15:57,400 --> 01:15:59,620
and we had to focus it on
1770
01:15:59,640 --> 01:16:01,850
the fact that it was
a Stephen King novel,
1771
01:16:01,880 --> 01:16:03,550
that it was very popular.
1772
01:16:03,580 --> 01:16:05,490
Executives, creatives knew it,
1773
01:16:05,510 --> 01:16:07,920
but program practices still
had to follow their guidelines
1774
01:16:07,950 --> 01:16:10,860
and we were constantly
up against them,
1775
01:16:10,880 --> 01:16:13,060
pushing it, and fighting
1776
01:16:13,090 --> 01:16:15,470
for the creative integrity
of the piece.
1777
01:16:15,490 --> 01:16:18,570
Broadcast
Standards rejected the picture,
1778
01:16:18,590 --> 01:16:22,070
and the head of Broadcast
Standards at the time
1779
01:16:22,100 --> 01:16:24,980
happened to be someone I knew,
so it was easy for me
1780
01:16:25,000 --> 01:16:26,740
to get on the phone to New York
1781
01:16:26,770 --> 01:16:28,680
and ask for help.
1782
01:16:28,700 --> 01:16:30,950
The gentleman that was
in charge of
1783
01:16:30,970 --> 01:16:33,080
censorship at ABC
1784
01:16:33,110 --> 01:16:35,920
agreed to come out and
look at the picture with me.
1785
01:16:35,940 --> 01:16:39,360
His staff had rejected
the picture on so many levels
1786
01:16:39,380 --> 01:16:42,830
that every note that they had
meant re-cutting the picture
1787
01:16:42,850 --> 01:16:44,530
and I just simply said,
1788
01:16:44,550 --> 01:16:46,100
"We're not cutting
a piece of it."
1789
01:16:46,120 --> 01:16:47,100
"This is what you bought.
1790
01:16:47,120 --> 01:16:48,570
You bought
a Stephen King horror.
1791
01:16:48,590 --> 01:16:49,700
We'll be able to show it
1792
01:16:49,720 --> 01:16:51,970
in a very respectable,
responsible way...
1793
01:16:51,990 --> 01:16:54,070
IT is based on subject material
1794
01:16:54,090 --> 01:16:57,110
that may be unsuitable for,
and unsettling to
1795
01:16:57,130 --> 01:16:59,480
younger and
impressionable viewers.
1796
01:16:59,500 --> 01:17:00,980
"but we can't deny the audience
1797
01:17:01,000 --> 01:17:02,980
what they come to expect."
1798
01:17:03,000 --> 01:17:04,880
I had made my argument
1799
01:17:04,910 --> 01:17:07,950
that these were recollections of adults.
1800
01:17:07,980 --> 01:17:09,490
The blood.
1801
01:17:09,510 --> 01:17:11,520
I cleaned the whole thing up
that very same night.
1802
01:17:11,550 --> 01:17:13,420
And so therefore,
we could get away with
1803
01:17:13,450 --> 01:17:14,860
children in jeopardy.
1804
01:17:18,820 --> 01:17:19,860
The next day we were told,
1805
01:17:19,890 --> 01:17:22,790
"No changes. Move forward."
1806
01:17:51,520 --> 01:17:52,600
Cue background!
1807
01:17:52,620 --> 01:17:54,560
Background!
1808
01:17:55,760 --> 01:17:57,730
Eric, go.
1809
01:17:57,760 --> 01:18:00,140
The idea of the carnival scene
1810
01:18:00,160 --> 01:18:02,140
is straight out of the book...
1811
01:18:02,160 --> 01:18:05,080
The hand that reaches
right out of the photo album
1812
01:18:05,100 --> 01:18:06,910
and grabs at them.
1813
01:18:06,930 --> 01:18:09,010
Come on, it's just a drawing!
1814
01:18:09,040 --> 01:18:10,950
The photo
book was built by two people,
1815
01:18:10,970 --> 01:18:12,880
Mike Steffy, and Bob Comer.
1816
01:18:12,910 --> 01:18:15,550
Both of them had this
amazing mechanical ability
1817
01:18:15,580 --> 01:18:17,520
to build what we call
tabletop gags,
1818
01:18:17,540 --> 01:18:18,790
really intricate things.
1819
01:18:18,810 --> 01:18:20,860
That was my favorite thing,
1820
01:18:20,880 --> 01:18:23,590
that you see a photograph
and I come alive.
1821
01:18:23,620 --> 01:18:24,990
Such a great idea.
1822
01:18:32,760 --> 01:18:35,440
I have never seen so many
cables attached to something
1823
01:18:35,460 --> 01:18:37,740
that operated those pages
to turn.
1824
01:18:37,770 --> 01:18:40,640
It was a complex
push me-pull me cable system.
1825
01:18:40,670 --> 01:18:42,110
They had to hit their marks,
1826
01:18:42,140 --> 01:18:43,950
so they had to have individual
cables for individual pages.
1827
01:18:43,970 --> 01:18:45,480
It took them weeks to build it.
1828
01:18:45,510 --> 01:18:46,950
When they operated it,
1829
01:18:46,970 --> 01:18:49,550
it was one of those "How do you
hide all that stuff?"
1830
01:18:49,580 --> 01:18:51,520
Visual effects
just didn't have the money.
1831
01:18:51,550 --> 01:18:52,460
All right, here we go. Yeah.
1832
01:18:52,480 --> 01:18:54,180
Thank you and clear, please.
1833
01:18:57,220 --> 01:18:58,500
What I really, really
1834
01:18:58,520 --> 01:19:01,900
wanted to emphasize was
that "I think I see Pennywise
1835
01:19:01,920 --> 01:19:04,130
back there in the background
somewhere
1836
01:19:04,160 --> 01:19:06,740
but he's just not
bothering anybody."
1837
01:19:06,760 --> 01:19:07,870
And I picked up the book
1838
01:19:07,900 --> 01:19:09,140
and the first thing we saw
was just a big hole in it.
1839
01:19:09,160 --> 01:19:11,740
And he's like, "All right,
I want you guys to act
1840
01:19:11,770 --> 01:19:12,880
like you guys
are reading this book,
1841
01:19:12,900 --> 01:19:16,250
like Pennywise is
dancing down the street.
1842
01:19:16,270 --> 01:19:18,010
He jumps on the pole."
1843
01:19:18,040 --> 01:19:18,980
Uh, remember the uh,
1844
01:19:19,010 --> 01:19:20,580
remember the pull-up.
1845
01:19:20,610 --> 01:19:21,250
Don't watch
the clown, background.
1846
01:19:21,280 --> 01:19:22,750
Keep doing your own stuff.
1847
01:19:22,780 --> 01:19:23,350
Remember that, uh,
1848
01:19:23,380 --> 01:19:25,050
little lower, and.yeah.
1849
01:19:25,080 --> 01:19:26,590
"And then, here it comes..."
1850
01:19:26,610 --> 01:19:27,890
Aah!
1851
01:19:27,920 --> 01:19:29,130
Oh, shit,
he's right in your face,
1852
01:19:29,150 --> 01:19:30,190
just like that.
1853
01:19:30,220 --> 01:19:31,930
"and I need you
guys to react."
1854
01:19:31,950 --> 01:19:33,960
It was Tommy's hand that kind of
1855
01:19:33,990 --> 01:19:35,100
came up through there.
1856
01:19:35,120 --> 01:19:37,870
I remember later
seeing the completed scene
1857
01:19:37,890 --> 01:19:39,840
and being blown away.
1858
01:19:39,860 --> 01:19:42,610
I thought that was
a good powerful moment.
1859
01:19:42,630 --> 01:19:44,610
Makeup
effects were booming at that time.
1860
01:19:44,630 --> 01:19:47,040
Garage shops
were popping up everywhere,
1861
01:19:47,070 --> 01:19:49,580
and Fantasy II was
like an all-encompassing
1862
01:19:49,600 --> 01:19:51,180
movie effects house.
1863
01:19:51,210 --> 01:19:53,280
We had a makeup effects wing
1864
01:19:53,310 --> 01:19:56,620
and Bart Mixon
was the lead person in it.
1865
01:19:56,640 --> 01:19:57,920
Tommy Lee Wallace
1866
01:19:57,950 --> 01:20:01,520
knew him from Fright Night 2
1867
01:20:01,550 --> 01:20:02,960
I had set up their creature shop
1868
01:20:02,980 --> 01:20:04,760
for Fright Night 2,
1869
01:20:04,790 --> 01:20:07,630
so it was just natural
for Gene to bring me back in.
1870
01:20:07,650 --> 01:20:09,800
I had a crew of about a half
a dozen artists on the show,
1871
01:20:09,820 --> 01:20:11,530
but I... probably selfishly,
1872
01:20:11,560 --> 01:20:13,240
I wanted to do Pennywise myself.
1873
01:20:13,260 --> 01:20:14,440
That was Bart's baby.
1874
01:20:14,460 --> 01:20:17,540
Bart sculpted it and did
the whole application.
1875
01:20:17,560 --> 01:20:18,840
Fozzie Bear does the twist?
1876
01:20:18,870 --> 01:20:20,910
Early on, I
was doing a fair amount of
1877
01:20:20,930 --> 01:20:23,750
clown research and sketching.
1878
01:20:23,770 --> 01:20:26,250
The idea, first of all,
was to do a lot of research
1879
01:20:26,270 --> 01:20:29,020
on representation of clowns
over time
1880
01:20:29,040 --> 01:20:31,250
to have a historical
perspective.
1881
01:20:31,280 --> 01:20:34,660
We have to think of
the size of the actor
1882
01:20:34,680 --> 01:20:36,960
and how big we want him to be,
1883
01:20:36,980 --> 01:20:39,160
how nimble we want him to be.
1884
01:20:39,190 --> 01:20:40,860
What we're doing
with the costume is
1885
01:20:40,890 --> 01:20:42,870
we're serving his face;
1886
01:20:42,890 --> 01:20:45,600
everything has to serve
the expression.
1887
01:20:45,630 --> 01:20:47,600
The first time
I did prosthetics
1888
01:20:47,630 --> 01:20:49,840
I was doing Legend
for Ridley Scott,
1889
01:20:49,860 --> 01:20:51,710
where I played the devil.
1890
01:20:51,730 --> 01:20:54,110
He had mentioned
that Rob Botin had literally
1891
01:20:54,130 --> 01:20:57,210
casted every inch of his body,
so I think he wasn't anxious
1892
01:20:57,240 --> 01:20:59,020
to have his life cast
done again.
1893
01:20:59,040 --> 01:21:01,150
That's all right, I can bear it.
1894
01:21:01,170 --> 01:21:03,890
He was absolutely weighted down
1895
01:21:03,910 --> 01:21:07,660
with special effects makeup
to the point at which he was...
1896
01:21:07,680 --> 01:21:11,030
To most people was no longer
recognizable as Tim Curry.
1897
01:21:11,050 --> 01:21:13,330
I was
prosthetic down to my waist
1898
01:21:13,350 --> 01:21:15,700
and it was all glued on,
1899
01:21:15,720 --> 01:21:18,070
and to get it off
they used to sit me in a bath,
1900
01:21:18,090 --> 01:21:19,940
tear a hole in my head
1901
01:21:19,960 --> 01:21:22,040
and pour in solvent.
1902
01:21:22,060 --> 01:21:24,770
And the two guys
who were doing it were insane,
1903
01:21:24,800 --> 01:21:28,750
probably because they were
around solvents so much.
1904
01:21:28,770 --> 01:21:30,880
You do get horribly
claustrophobic,
1905
01:21:30,900 --> 01:21:33,950
particularly
if your whole face is covered.
1906
01:21:33,970 --> 01:21:35,720
So, his only reservation
1907
01:21:35,740 --> 01:21:37,620
was too much makeup.
1908
01:21:37,640 --> 01:21:40,790
He wanted to be
able to use his face.
1909
01:21:40,810 --> 01:21:44,990
We pushed and pulled about
how much makeup to do.
1910
01:21:45,020 --> 01:21:47,030
I met with him
and we had a few conversations
1911
01:21:47,050 --> 01:21:49,400
about what he did
or didn't want to wear.
1912
01:21:49,420 --> 01:21:52,840
He did want to go as light
as possible with the prosthetic.
1913
01:21:52,860 --> 01:21:54,330
So there was some evolution.
1914
01:22:16,750 --> 01:22:19,030
I'll kill you all.
1915
01:22:19,050 --> 01:22:20,200
I'll kill you all.
1916
01:22:20,220 --> 01:22:21,630
I saw it as a fantasy character.
1917
01:22:21,660 --> 01:22:25,200
It was an illusion that It's
presenting to these children.
1918
01:22:25,230 --> 01:22:27,900
I wanted it to almost
be like a living cartoon,
1919
01:22:27,930 --> 01:22:29,970
just as harmless and as pleasant looking
1920
01:22:30,000 --> 01:22:31,010
as it could be,
1921
01:22:31,030 --> 01:22:31,940
and that's why the colors
1922
01:22:31,970 --> 01:22:34,180
are pure white and red and blue
1923
01:22:34,200 --> 01:22:36,310
and very primary and very clean.
1924
01:22:36,340 --> 01:22:38,110
I didn't want
there to be cracks.
1925
01:22:38,140 --> 01:22:40,150
And at least when he's
presenting himself to the kids,
1926
01:22:40,170 --> 01:22:41,950
he's casting this illusion,
1927
01:22:41,980 --> 01:22:45,050
so why would he
have flaws in it?
1928
01:22:45,080 --> 01:22:47,790
The usual
accoutrement of clownmanship,
1929
01:22:47,810 --> 01:22:49,990
it was definitely
going to be whiteface.
1930
01:22:50,020 --> 01:22:51,060
It was really the classic.
1931
01:22:51,080 --> 01:22:54,130
Bozo the Clown approach,
to begin with.
1932
01:22:54,150 --> 01:22:56,100
He came over to the shop,
we took a life cast,
1933
01:22:56,120 --> 01:22:59,270
and then we produced
copies of busts of his head.
1934
01:22:59,290 --> 01:23:01,970
I believe I had three of those
that I did clay sketches on
1935
01:23:02,000 --> 01:23:04,040
where we did
three different concepts.
1936
01:23:04,060 --> 01:23:06,180
There was a hobo clown
1937
01:23:06,200 --> 01:23:08,480
with jowls and droopy face,
1938
01:23:08,500 --> 01:23:09,580
and then there was
one in between
1939
01:23:09,600 --> 01:23:11,450
that had more prosthetics
on his face
1940
01:23:11,470 --> 01:23:14,350
but made him a little more
angular and meaner.
1941
01:23:14,370 --> 01:23:16,150
Once we-we produced the makeup,
1942
01:23:16,180 --> 01:23:18,020
then we went up
to Canada to test it.
1943
01:23:18,050 --> 01:23:20,260
And we did two makeup tests.
1944
01:23:20,280 --> 01:23:21,490
When we got to Vancouver,
1945
01:23:21,520 --> 01:23:24,830
and were doing our test
makeup, I was so looking forward
1946
01:23:24,850 --> 01:23:26,300
to that day and that moment
1947
01:23:26,320 --> 01:23:28,970
when we would be able to sit
with Tim with the makeup on
1948
01:23:28,990 --> 01:23:30,830
and see this clown with
1949
01:23:30,860 --> 01:23:33,400
bloodshot eyes and fangs
and a scary face.
1950
01:23:33,430 --> 01:23:36,110
The first test
was just the head and the nose
1951
01:23:36,130 --> 01:23:38,740
with a paint scheme
that was what Tim had wanted.
1952
01:23:38,770 --> 01:23:41,180
He dictated the patterns
on the face.
1953
01:23:41,200 --> 01:23:43,850
The second test, we added
the cheeks and the chin
1954
01:23:43,870 --> 01:23:46,120
and then I painted something
closer to what I had
1955
01:23:46,140 --> 01:23:47,780
on my original design,
1956
01:23:47,810 --> 01:23:50,390
where he's got like a bigger
red mouth and the blue eyes.
1957
01:23:50,410 --> 01:23:51,590
They photographed both of those.
1958
01:23:51,610 --> 01:23:53,490
The decision was made
that he didn't really
1959
01:23:53,510 --> 01:23:55,060
need the cheeks and chin,
1960
01:23:55,080 --> 01:23:56,830
which at the time
I was kind of like,
1961
01:23:56,850 --> 01:23:57,930
"Hey, wait a minute!"
1962
01:23:57,950 --> 01:23:59,930
But I think he looks great
like he is.
1963
01:23:59,950 --> 01:24:02,270
The paint scheme evolved
a little bit further.
1964
01:24:02,290 --> 01:24:03,930
We did at least one more test
1965
01:24:03,960 --> 01:24:05,970
where we just painted
Tim's face white
1966
01:24:05,990 --> 01:24:08,470
and then refined the patterns.
1967
01:24:08,500 --> 01:24:12,510
It's always kind of tough
having that stuff stuck on you.
1968
01:24:12,530 --> 01:24:13,880
There was a certain line
1969
01:24:13,900 --> 01:24:15,910
that I was going past,
1970
01:24:15,940 --> 01:24:18,480
and Bart Mixon was in
on that conversation,
1971
01:24:18,510 --> 01:24:21,450
as was Doug Higgins,
the art director.
1972
01:24:21,480 --> 01:24:25,120
We were all having discussions
about Pennywise's look.
1973
01:24:25,150 --> 01:24:28,990
I was excited about adding
certain appliance makeup
1974
01:24:29,020 --> 01:24:30,890
like a bulbous forehead,
1975
01:24:30,920 --> 01:24:36,570
perhaps exaggerated cheekbones,
big extended chin,
1976
01:24:36,590 --> 01:24:39,500
things to cartoonize his face.
1977
01:24:39,530 --> 01:24:42,910
Tim took a stand about that
and said he really didn't want
1978
01:24:42,930 --> 01:24:44,410
to wear these things.
1979
01:24:44,430 --> 01:24:46,580
He agreed to try them on.
1980
01:24:46,600 --> 01:24:49,280
And he said, "If you want me
to wear this scary makeup,
1981
01:24:49,300 --> 01:24:51,010
then I think you have
the wrong actor."
1982
01:24:51,040 --> 01:24:52,820
And I thought, "What?"
1983
01:24:52,840 --> 01:24:56,150
He had great
patience and great forbearance,
1984
01:24:56,180 --> 01:24:59,160
because I think that job
was a purgatory for him,
1985
01:24:59,180 --> 01:25:00,220
I really do.
1986
01:25:00,250 --> 01:25:02,590
One more, Tim.
1987
01:25:02,620 --> 01:25:04,130
And God love him,
1988
01:25:04,150 --> 01:25:05,390
he created a character
1989
01:25:05,420 --> 01:25:09,500
that has scared
the pants off of generations.
1990
01:25:09,520 --> 01:25:11,570
He said, "Look, just make me
1991
01:25:11,590 --> 01:25:15,240
as a straight clown
and I will scare the audience."
1992
01:25:15,260 --> 01:25:18,370
I thought, "Of course.
That's why we have Tim Curry."
1993
01:25:18,400 --> 01:25:19,880
Go!
1994
01:25:19,900 --> 01:25:21,580
Now.
1995
01:25:21,600 --> 01:25:23,880
"He will scare
us. We don't need all of that."
1996
01:25:23,900 --> 01:25:26,420
In the end,
we removed all of them
1997
01:25:26,440 --> 01:25:29,390
except the bulbous head,
and I'm glad we stuck with that,
1998
01:25:29,410 --> 01:25:34,220
but he was totally right that
his face is so expressive...
1999
01:25:34,250 --> 01:25:35,570
Give us a profile, Tim.
2000
01:25:37,620 --> 01:25:38,690
That it was good
2001
01:25:38,720 --> 01:25:42,170
to not see it too done up
with rubber.
2002
01:25:42,190 --> 01:25:44,030
But Tim
could act through a manhole cover
2003
01:25:44,060 --> 01:25:45,400
if he wanted to,
2004
01:25:45,430 --> 01:25:48,030
because he has that kind of
charisma and presence.
2005
01:26:09,050 --> 01:26:11,390
The look that we ended up with
2006
01:26:11,420 --> 01:26:13,930
was based in a large part
2007
01:26:13,950 --> 01:26:15,630
on the Lon Chaney Phantom
of the Opera.
2008
01:26:15,660 --> 01:26:17,270
That's why it's got
the upturned nose
2009
01:26:17,290 --> 01:26:19,070
and the bulbous head.
2010
01:26:19,090 --> 01:26:21,570
♪ The itsy-bitsy spider ♪
2011
01:26:21,600 --> 01:26:24,240
♪ Climbed up the water spout ♪
2012
01:26:24,260 --> 01:26:28,080
♪ Down came the rain
and washed the spider out ♪
2013
01:26:28,100 --> 01:26:30,180
I didn't film
any of my scenes with Tim Curry
2014
01:26:30,200 --> 01:26:31,450
'cause they didn't
want to scare me.
2015
01:26:31,470 --> 01:26:35,350
I was walking back to go
to my trailer to go change
2016
01:26:35,380 --> 01:26:39,490
and Tim Curry is in full gear,
his clown makeup, everything,
2017
01:26:39,510 --> 01:26:41,990
and he walks by me
and he goes, "Hi!"
2018
01:26:42,020 --> 01:26:45,230
And it scared me so much.
2019
01:26:45,250 --> 01:26:47,530
To be honest that's the
reason why I...
2020
01:26:47,550 --> 01:26:49,200
I still haven't seen the movie,
2021
01:26:49,220 --> 01:26:50,700
because I'm terrified of clowns.
2022
01:26:52,390 --> 01:26:55,040
There was quite a good
photograph in a magazine of me
2023
01:26:55,060 --> 01:26:57,370
heading for the makeup trailer
2024
01:26:57,400 --> 01:27:02,180
in a bathrobe with a Marlboro
dangling from my face.
2025
01:27:02,200 --> 01:27:04,510
Tim kept
himself quite aloof from us.
2026
01:27:04,540 --> 01:27:08,350
He would basically just
hang out in his cast chair,
2027
01:27:08,380 --> 01:27:10,650
chain-smoking in full makeup
2028
01:27:10,680 --> 01:27:12,990
and whenever he saw
us, he would just go.
2029
01:27:13,010 --> 01:27:14,720
"Grrrrr!"
2030
01:27:14,750 --> 01:27:15,960
Those kind of people
2031
01:27:15,980 --> 01:27:18,030
always make your job easier.
2032
01:27:18,050 --> 01:27:20,430
The kids were
actually quite scared of me.
2033
01:27:20,450 --> 01:27:22,030
I'd been playing it really cool
2034
01:27:22,060 --> 01:27:23,670
and then we wound up in a van
2035
01:27:23,690 --> 01:27:25,230
going back to the hotel together
2036
01:27:25,260 --> 01:27:27,240
and I was wearing
a Rocky Horror shirt
2037
01:27:27,260 --> 01:27:30,310
and I was like trying
to cover it up,
2038
01:27:30,330 --> 01:27:33,310
and he saw it and he was like,
"Oh, you like the movie?"
2039
01:27:33,330 --> 01:27:36,550
And I go, "Yeah, I'm...
I'm into you, dude!"
2040
01:27:36,570 --> 01:27:39,580
I have a picture of him
in half a clown costume
2041
01:27:39,610 --> 01:27:42,590
with me standing next to
him looking slightly scared
2042
01:27:42,610 --> 01:27:44,220
that was taken off the set
2043
01:27:44,240 --> 01:27:47,290
after shooting this shower scene
2044
01:27:47,310 --> 01:27:48,690
and I was too scared to
ask him for that picture.
2045
01:27:48,720 --> 01:27:50,560
My mom, however, was not.
2046
01:27:50,580 --> 01:27:53,130
I
Encouraged him to be really big,
2047
01:27:53,150 --> 01:27:55,230
because it's almost like
a character
2048
01:27:55,260 --> 01:27:57,500
who's satirizing himself
constantly.
2049
01:27:57,520 --> 01:27:59,240
He's being self-referential
2050
01:27:59,260 --> 01:28:02,040
when he tells these
awful, stupid jokes.
2051
01:28:02,060 --> 01:28:04,210
Do you have
Prince Albert in a can?
2052
01:28:04,230 --> 01:28:05,740
Then, urrah, urrah, urrah.
2053
01:28:05,770 --> 01:28:07,140
Urrah, urrah, urrah,
2054
01:28:07,170 --> 01:28:08,110
urrah, urrah,
2055
01:28:08,140 --> 01:28:10,550
you know, it's like, "Wait,
2056
01:28:10,570 --> 01:28:14,080
he's just demented;
that's all there is to that.
2057
01:28:14,110 --> 01:28:17,250
But wait, he's not even a clown,
he's some other kind of monster,
2058
01:28:17,280 --> 01:28:19,220
so, oh, I'm uneasy."
2059
01:28:19,250 --> 01:28:23,130
Pennywise
is this really strange, queer...
2060
01:28:23,150 --> 01:28:25,030
Not in LGBTQ sense,
2061
01:28:25,050 --> 01:28:29,270
but like queer as in strange,
as in aberrant.
2062
01:28:29,290 --> 01:28:31,370
I think that the novel,
more so than the miniseries,
2063
01:28:31,390 --> 01:28:33,140
is very much grounded
in the fact
2064
01:28:33,160 --> 01:28:36,810
that Pennywise
is on three different levels:
2065
01:28:36,830 --> 01:28:38,810
It is in disguise
2066
01:28:38,830 --> 01:28:40,810
as Pennywise; Pennywise then
2067
01:28:40,830 --> 01:28:43,380
disguises himself as, say,
2068
01:28:43,400 --> 01:28:44,480
the Creature
from the Black Lagoon,
2069
01:28:44,500 --> 01:28:46,040
the mummy, the leper.
2070
01:28:47,340 --> 01:28:50,720
Get out of Derry
while you still can!
2071
01:28:50,740 --> 01:28:53,220
Beverly's dad in a dress,
2072
01:28:53,250 --> 01:28:55,760
so it's drag on drag
on drag on drag.
2073
01:28:55,780 --> 01:28:57,730
It's all about these
very queer elements,
2074
01:28:57,750 --> 01:29:00,060
which is what horror
fiction is always about.
2075
01:29:00,090 --> 01:29:02,060
It's always about the
thing on the outside.
2076
01:29:02,090 --> 01:29:05,130
So, King is really preying on those fears,
2077
01:29:05,160 --> 01:29:06,400
those fears of the outsider.
2078
01:29:08,700 --> 01:29:09,810
Stan?
2079
01:29:09,830 --> 01:29:11,540
My first day of
2080
01:29:11,560 --> 01:29:14,580
shooting on the set
was with Jonathan Brandis,
2081
01:29:14,600 --> 01:29:18,150
where Stan goes to do some
bird watching and ends up in
2082
01:29:18,170 --> 01:29:19,350
a house...
2083
01:29:19,370 --> 01:29:20,380
Hello?
2084
01:29:20,410 --> 01:29:21,680
Stanley.
2085
01:29:21,710 --> 01:29:22,720
Yeah?
2086
01:29:22,740 --> 01:29:23,550
And of course,
2087
01:29:23,580 --> 01:29:25,760
It manifests itself
as that mummy.
2088
01:29:29,350 --> 01:29:31,290
Jim McLaughlin
sculpted the mummy for me,
2089
01:29:31,320 --> 01:29:33,600
which was basically a makeup
that Jim had done
2090
01:29:33,620 --> 01:29:34,800
a year or so earlier
and I was like,
2091
01:29:34,820 --> 01:29:37,130
"That looks cool, you mind
if we use that in the movie?"
2092
01:29:37,160 --> 01:29:38,920
So he just, you know,
made me a copy of that.
2093
01:29:40,460 --> 01:29:42,170
There's a
werewolf which was really cool
2094
01:29:42,200 --> 01:29:43,870
that was done by Norman Cabrera.
2095
01:29:43,900 --> 01:29:45,410
- This.
- This isn't happening.
2096
01:29:49,040 --> 01:29:50,450
He's
like, "We're doing an homage
2097
01:29:50,470 --> 01:29:54,180
to I Was a Teenage Werewolf,
the Michael Landon creature,"
2098
01:29:54,210 --> 01:29:55,420
and I was like,
2099
01:29:55,440 --> 01:29:56,890
"Uh, yeah.
This is a no-brainer, man.
2100
01:29:56,910 --> 01:29:57,820
I want to do this."
2101
01:29:57,840 --> 01:29:58,590
When I saw the stunt guy
2102
01:29:58,610 --> 01:30:00,390
in the suit the first time,
2103
01:30:00,410 --> 01:30:01,790
all I wanted to do was touch it.
2104
01:30:01,820 --> 01:30:03,860
Werewolves
was always my favorite monster
2105
01:30:03,880 --> 01:30:06,730
in every movie, and I loved
I Was a Teenage Werewolf
2106
01:30:06,750 --> 01:30:08,400
'cause he had these
really cool streaks
2107
01:30:08,420 --> 01:30:10,270
and he wore like
the school jacket
2108
01:30:10,290 --> 01:30:11,730
and he was... kind of
was like a greaser.
2109
01:30:11,760 --> 01:30:14,370
I basically got
my old monster magazines out
2110
01:30:14,390 --> 01:30:16,240
so I had the references
all there.
2111
01:30:16,260 --> 01:30:18,210
I knew exactly
what they were going for,
2112
01:30:18,230 --> 01:30:20,410
and I liked giving it
a slightly updated twist.
2113
01:30:21,600 --> 01:30:23,410
I look at night two
2114
01:30:23,440 --> 01:30:26,750
and I think it suffers
in part from the problems
2115
01:30:26,770 --> 01:30:30,190
of being only a night two.
2116
01:30:30,210 --> 01:30:33,420
Steve's narrative
as it accelerates
2117
01:30:33,450 --> 01:30:35,830
benefits from more time
rather than less.
2118
01:30:35,850 --> 01:30:36,960
That said,
2119
01:30:36,980 --> 01:30:38,660
the fortune cookie scene
in the restaurant
2120
01:30:38,690 --> 01:30:40,260
and the scene
2121
01:30:40,290 --> 01:30:42,330
when Bev goes to her old house
2122
01:30:42,360 --> 01:30:43,530
and another
woman is living there
2123
01:30:43,560 --> 01:30:44,930
who is by no means
2124
01:30:44,960 --> 01:30:46,470
what she appears...
2125
01:30:46,490 --> 01:30:49,240
If you're wise,
you'll run dear, run,
2126
01:30:49,260 --> 01:30:51,240
because to stay will mean
worse than your death.
2127
01:30:51,260 --> 01:30:52,900
were as good
as anything in night one.
2128
01:30:55,370 --> 01:30:57,210
I worry about you, Bevvy.
2129
01:30:57,240 --> 01:30:59,220
I worry a lot.
2130
01:30:59,240 --> 01:31:01,820
Norman Cabrera
did the Al Marsh corpse
2131
01:31:01,840 --> 01:31:03,750
when Beverly goes back
to her home
2132
01:31:03,780 --> 01:31:06,620
and the old woman turns into
the corpse of her father.
2133
01:31:06,650 --> 01:31:09,330
I had to do
the whole upper-body cast,
2134
01:31:09,350 --> 01:31:11,360
which is one of the
most grueling things
2135
01:31:11,380 --> 01:31:13,530
that an actor can do.
2136
01:31:13,550 --> 01:31:18,700
They tried to Krazy Glue
mealy worms to my face,
2137
01:31:18,730 --> 01:31:21,900
actually live worms
jiggling on my face.
2138
01:31:21,930 --> 01:31:23,370
But we
couldn't get them to stick.
2139
01:31:24,430 --> 01:31:26,330
So, we had to lose
the mealy worms.
2140
01:31:30,870 --> 01:31:31,880
When you get on some sets,
2141
01:31:31,910 --> 01:31:34,680
you can tell that
it's done in a way
2142
01:31:34,710 --> 01:31:35,950
that's going to make it
look good on camera
2143
01:31:35,980 --> 01:31:37,620
but it doesn't really look
that great up close...
2144
01:31:37,640 --> 01:31:39,320
Not the case with this set.
2145
01:31:39,350 --> 01:31:40,620
Standby for picture.
2146
01:31:40,650 --> 01:31:43,390
Inside
that set, you really felt like
2147
01:31:43,420 --> 01:31:46,490
you were underground and
in some sort of sewer system.
2148
01:31:48,560 --> 01:31:50,440
Okay. We're there.
2149
01:31:51,360 --> 01:31:53,000
The set was awesome.
2150
01:31:53,030 --> 01:31:56,340
It just kind of transformed you
and took you to another place.
2151
01:31:56,360 --> 01:31:57,440
Who's missing?
2152
01:31:57,460 --> 01:31:59,440
- Stan!
- Oh no!
2153
01:31:59,470 --> 01:32:02,550
There was a scene
where Stan got pulled aside
2154
01:32:02,570 --> 01:32:04,480
from the group
with Henry and Belch.
2155
01:32:06,340 --> 01:32:10,420
- Hi, kid.
- I uh, guess you're the first.
2156
01:32:10,440 --> 01:32:11,350
I got a chance to confront.
2157
01:32:11,380 --> 01:32:13,020
Ben Heller and you felt like,
2158
01:32:13,050 --> 01:32:15,490
"Oh, this is it now.
He's a dead man."
2159
01:32:15,520 --> 01:32:18,530
I felt that little segment
came closest to encapsulating
2160
01:32:18,550 --> 01:32:19,730
what Henry Bowers
was capable of.
2161
01:32:19,750 --> 01:32:22,600
I want you to think
about that before you die.
2162
01:32:22,620 --> 01:32:24,400
Belch, the guy that
gets pulled in the pipe,
2163
01:32:24,420 --> 01:32:26,600
the lower half of him
is a dummy so that
2164
01:32:26,630 --> 01:32:28,870
they can fold, because it's kind
of hard to fold yourself over
2165
01:32:28,900 --> 01:32:30,310
like he does.
2166
01:32:30,330 --> 01:32:31,840
When they told me
how I was going to die
2167
01:32:31,860 --> 01:32:33,980
and the dimensions of the pipe,
I started stretching,
2168
01:32:34,000 --> 01:32:35,380
so I'm just in there
2169
01:32:35,400 --> 01:32:36,680
trying to get my head
to my knees
2170
01:32:36,700 --> 01:32:37,910
so that I could fit in there,
2171
01:32:37,940 --> 01:32:39,250
and one of the stunt
coordinators said,
2172
01:32:39,270 --> 01:32:41,450
"You're not going to be
able to do it. I can't do it."
2173
01:32:41,470 --> 01:32:42,890
I wanted to do my own stunts
but they were like,
2174
01:32:42,910 --> 01:32:44,070
"No, no, it's an explosion...
2175
01:32:46,010 --> 01:32:47,090
"and you can't do that."
2176
01:32:47,110 --> 01:32:49,060
You know, I was
17 years old and being like,
2177
01:32:49,080 --> 01:32:51,490
"Yeah, yeah,
I did my own stunts!"
2178
01:32:51,520 --> 01:32:52,700
As a young effects person,
2179
01:32:52,720 --> 01:32:54,300
I got a lot of the crappy jobs.
2180
01:32:54,320 --> 01:32:56,000
We're down in the sewer,
and there's that pipe
2181
01:32:56,020 --> 01:32:57,200
that light goes through,
2182
01:32:57,220 --> 01:32:59,640
and there's a bazillion holes
in that pipe.
2183
01:32:59,660 --> 01:33:00,940
Well, my job was, first,
2184
01:33:00,960 --> 01:33:02,370
drill all the holes.
2185
01:33:02,400 --> 01:33:03,740
You got to make them
look perfect
2186
01:33:03,760 --> 01:33:05,470
and then you had to go
inside it,
2187
01:33:05,500 --> 01:33:06,740
because with the
camera sliding in there
2188
01:33:06,770 --> 01:33:08,680
and also we had the
actor that got sucked into it,
2189
01:33:08,700 --> 01:33:09,750
all the holes had to have
2190
01:33:09,770 --> 01:33:11,310
all the little sharp edges
taken off.
2191
01:33:11,340 --> 01:33:13,780
I just spent 12 hours a day
2192
01:33:13,810 --> 01:33:15,420
doing that.
2193
01:33:15,440 --> 01:33:17,820
Hey, Henry?
2194
01:33:17,840 --> 01:33:19,390
I was lifted off the ground.
2195
01:33:19,410 --> 01:33:21,520
I was told to just have,
they described it as
2196
01:33:21,550 --> 01:33:22,430
dead eyes, right,
2197
01:33:22,450 --> 01:33:24,830
so there's no real
reaction to the fact
2198
01:33:24,850 --> 01:33:28,100
that you're being pulled in
by some mysterious force.
2199
01:33:28,120 --> 01:33:30,370
Belch!
2200
01:33:30,390 --> 01:33:32,500
I love dying on film.
2201
01:33:32,530 --> 01:33:33,640
There's a finality to it.
2202
01:33:33,660 --> 01:33:36,440
Just the ability to. let go.
2203
01:33:36,460 --> 01:33:38,740
This is battery acid, you slime!
2204
01:33:38,770 --> 01:33:41,040
My character, Eddie Kaspbrak.
2205
01:33:41,070 --> 01:33:42,780
I don't know, I like to
think in kind of a way
2206
01:33:42,800 --> 01:33:45,410
he was the one who did
the most damage to It.
2207
01:33:45,440 --> 01:33:46,850
Like, the most protective with,
you know,
2208
01:33:46,870 --> 01:33:47,870
the battery acid scene.
2209
01:33:49,780 --> 01:33:53,360
He was a warrior on the inside.
2210
01:33:53,380 --> 01:33:54,490
When the kids saw him,
2211
01:33:54,510 --> 01:33:56,890
I wanted him to be like this cartoon clown,
2212
01:33:56,920 --> 01:33:59,090
and when the adults saw him,
I wanted him to be
2213
01:33:59,120 --> 01:34:03,100
this like a horrific caricature
of that previous clown.
2214
01:34:03,120 --> 01:34:05,830
The adults know
that this isn't really a clown.
2215
01:34:05,860 --> 01:34:07,470
They know that it's a monster,
2216
01:34:07,490 --> 01:34:09,870
and so there's no reason for It
2217
01:34:09,900 --> 01:34:12,470
to necessarily
maintain this illusion
2218
01:34:12,500 --> 01:34:14,880
other than
just to screw with them.
2219
01:34:14,900 --> 01:34:19,820
And my original concept art
for it had blue eye sockets
2220
01:34:19,840 --> 01:34:21,920
which would become
eye sockets of the skull;
2221
01:34:21,940 --> 01:34:23,590
just the way
the mouth was painted
2222
01:34:23,610 --> 01:34:25,690
would suggest
more of a skullish mouth.
2223
01:34:25,710 --> 01:34:28,690
And for various reasons,
we didn't go that route.
2224
01:34:28,720 --> 01:34:31,160
But when we ended up
doing the battery acid look,
2225
01:34:31,180 --> 01:34:35,860
the disfigured part is what
that makeup would have been,
2226
01:34:35,890 --> 01:34:37,800
only on his entire head.
2227
01:34:37,820 --> 01:34:39,500
When we shot that
sequence in Canada
2228
01:34:39,530 --> 01:34:40,940
with the battery acid,
2229
01:34:40,960 --> 01:34:42,200
we didn't have time
to switch him over
2230
01:34:42,230 --> 01:34:45,510
so we just shot the whole thing
with the regular clown face.
2231
01:34:45,530 --> 01:34:46,880
At that point,
2232
01:34:46,900 --> 01:34:50,010
the intention was to not use
the disfigured prosthetics
2233
01:34:50,040 --> 01:34:51,750
and I went back to LA
2234
01:34:51,770 --> 01:34:52,920
kind of a little heartbroken.
2235
01:34:52,940 --> 01:34:54,950
And we were building
the miniature Pennywise
2236
01:34:54,970 --> 01:34:56,150
for when he goes down the drain
2237
01:34:56,180 --> 01:34:59,420
and I had it sculpted
with the normal face,
2238
01:34:59,450 --> 01:35:00,420
and literally
2239
01:35:00,450 --> 01:35:02,660
the day I got the front half
of the mold done,
2240
01:35:02,680 --> 01:35:04,160
Gene Warren comes back and goes,
2241
01:35:04,180 --> 01:35:05,430
"Hey, we're doing some reshoots
2242
01:35:05,450 --> 01:35:07,930
and we're going to use
the disfigured Pennywise."
2243
01:35:07,950 --> 01:35:11,670
Now I had to take a life cast
of his quarter-scale head
2244
01:35:11,690 --> 01:35:13,970
and do like a tiny prosthetic
to make it look like
2245
01:35:13,990 --> 01:35:15,240
the disfigured Pennywise.
2246
01:35:15,260 --> 01:35:18,570
To Tim's credit, the only
reason that that makeup,
2247
01:35:18,600 --> 01:35:19,940
even though it's
a heavier makeup,
2248
01:35:19,970 --> 01:35:23,210
is in the movie is because
he had seen the prosthetics
2249
01:35:23,240 --> 01:35:26,180
and he volunteered to wear it
for the day that we shot it.
2250
01:35:26,210 --> 01:35:27,950
I loved the fact
that we really got to work
2251
01:35:27,970 --> 01:35:29,490
with Tim in that scene.
2252
01:35:29,510 --> 01:35:30,490
Stan, no!
2253
01:35:30,510 --> 01:35:31,520
Bev, the stones!
2254
01:35:31,540 --> 01:35:32,620
Hurry, Bev. Kill It!
2255
01:35:32,650 --> 01:35:34,190
Kill me?
2256
01:35:34,210 --> 01:35:35,890
Oh, brat!
2257
01:35:35,920 --> 01:35:37,860
You are priceless!
2258
01:35:37,880 --> 01:35:39,900
When Pennywise gets hit
in the head with
2259
01:35:39,920 --> 01:35:41,930
the silver stone and knocks
the chunk out of his head.
2260
01:35:41,950 --> 01:35:44,230
Bam! He nails him!
2261
01:35:44,260 --> 01:35:46,030
Initially,
we shot that in Vancouver
2262
01:35:46,060 --> 01:35:48,600
with just the regular
Pennywise makeup.
2263
01:35:48,630 --> 01:35:50,970
Kill it, Bev! Kill it!
2264
01:35:51,000 --> 01:35:52,010
Make that happen fast.
2265
01:35:52,030 --> 01:35:54,740
As soon as this... as soon as
he gets hit. Okay?
2266
01:35:54,770 --> 01:35:56,580
So, bam!
He gets hit in the head.
2267
01:35:56,600 --> 01:35:58,480
I think it was
an interesting choice
2268
01:35:58,500 --> 01:36:01,750
by Stephen King
to have Bev, the only girl,
2269
01:36:01,770 --> 01:36:04,490
be the one who actually
has mastered this weapon
2270
01:36:04,510 --> 01:36:07,790
and can use the weapon
against It.
2271
01:36:07,810 --> 01:36:10,130
It's like
it's supposed to be Bev.
2272
01:36:10,150 --> 01:36:12,830
In the movie,
it's a little silver earring
2273
01:36:12,850 --> 01:36:14,100
about so big,
2274
01:36:14,120 --> 01:36:15,260
but for the shot of it
2275
01:36:15,290 --> 01:36:18,200
flying out of the
slingshot and hitting him,
2276
01:36:18,220 --> 01:36:22,040
Bart sculpted at least twice
a duplicate of the earring.
2277
01:36:22,060 --> 01:36:24,170
It's flat on the back with...
With a little hole
2278
01:36:24,200 --> 01:36:27,980
so they could mount it
on a... on a rig
2279
01:36:28,000 --> 01:36:30,050
and I think it probably rotated.
2280
01:36:30,070 --> 01:36:31,950
I remember practicing
2281
01:36:31,970 --> 01:36:35,250
with a slingshot at
home. Once I fired it
2282
01:36:35,270 --> 01:36:37,190
right into the camera
2283
01:36:37,210 --> 01:36:40,060
and it ricocheted
around the map box.
2284
01:36:40,080 --> 01:36:42,120
Took me a while to live
that one down with the boys.
2285
01:36:42,150 --> 01:36:43,230
They were like, "I'll do it!
2286
01:36:43,250 --> 01:36:45,230
I'll do it!
She's incompetent!"
2287
01:36:45,250 --> 01:36:47,260
I was just like, "Oh, men."
2288
01:36:47,290 --> 01:36:49,570
Kill It, Bev!
2289
01:36:52,790 --> 01:36:54,140
Filming those scenes
2290
01:36:54,160 --> 01:36:56,540
in the sewer
and working with Pennywise.
2291
01:36:57,560 --> 01:37:02,040
And you. are next.
2292
01:37:02,070 --> 01:37:04,150
Definitely some of
the more memorable times.
2293
01:37:04,170 --> 01:37:05,170
Action!
2294
01:37:09,940 --> 01:37:12,750
It really put you in the mood
2295
01:37:12,780 --> 01:37:13,720
and it really
gave you the feeling
2296
01:37:13,750 --> 01:37:14,490
that you were actually
doing these things.
2297
01:37:14,520 --> 01:37:16,690
Similar to the shower scene.
2298
01:37:16,720 --> 01:37:18,760
It's okay, Eddie.
2299
01:37:18,780 --> 01:37:22,600
Hi. I just wanted to say hello.
2300
01:37:22,620 --> 01:37:24,000
The entire thing
is built on a sound stage
2301
01:37:24,020 --> 01:37:29,570
so you have a bathroom
that is seven-eighths complete.
2302
01:37:29,600 --> 01:37:32,740
This is a little
inconvenient, Eddie.
2303
01:37:32,770 --> 01:37:35,740
Just hold on while I make
a few adjustments.
2304
01:37:35,770 --> 01:37:38,750
It was a combination
of stop-motion
2305
01:37:38,770 --> 01:37:40,920
replacement animation.
2306
01:37:40,940 --> 01:37:45,150
We sculpted the stretching
of the drain in the tiles
2307
01:37:45,180 --> 01:37:49,020
and it's sculpted
frame by frame and then cast
2308
01:37:49,050 --> 01:37:51,680
and then replacement,
one frame at a time.
2309
01:37:53,150 --> 01:37:54,700
You have all this noise.
2310
01:37:54,720 --> 01:37:56,770
The poles blowing
the compressed air,
2311
01:37:56,790 --> 01:37:59,970
which are loud bursts from
12 to 14 different poles.
2312
01:37:59,990 --> 01:38:02,000
The director yelling cues at me.
2313
01:38:02,030 --> 01:38:03,070
Have Tim Curry
2314
01:38:03,100 --> 01:38:04,440
reciting his lines for me
2315
01:38:04,460 --> 01:38:07,880
in Tim Curry Pennywise voice
over a loudspeaker system.
2316
01:38:07,900 --> 01:38:10,680
So, when you add
all those factors together,
2317
01:38:10,700 --> 01:38:13,250
me having an asthma attack
at the very end of the scene...
2318
01:38:15,140 --> 01:38:17,850
it's not really
too much acting going on there
2319
01:38:17,880 --> 01:38:19,050
because there was
a lot of adrenaline,
2320
01:38:19,080 --> 01:38:20,290
there was a lot of pressure.
2321
01:38:20,310 --> 01:38:21,920
Well, sports fans,
2322
01:38:21,950 --> 01:38:24,030
this has been a real hoot.
2323
01:38:24,050 --> 01:38:25,390
The Chinese restaurant scene
2324
01:38:25,420 --> 01:38:28,660
was sort of our scene
out of Alien in that
2325
01:38:28,690 --> 01:38:32,400
the director did not let us see
what was going to happen.
2326
01:38:39,400 --> 01:38:40,280
First of
all, you have to remember
2327
01:38:40,300 --> 01:38:41,610
you have all these actors
2328
01:38:41,630 --> 01:38:43,980
sitting around who have known
each other for years.
2329
01:38:44,000 --> 01:38:46,880
Ritter and I were very naughty.
2330
01:38:46,910 --> 01:38:47,820
Poor Tommy, the director,
2331
01:38:47,840 --> 01:38:49,790
I think wanted to
really kill both of us.
2332
01:38:49,810 --> 01:38:51,690
We were back in that time
2333
01:38:51,710 --> 01:38:53,890
so we were always relating
to each other in character
2334
01:38:53,910 --> 01:38:55,990
as childhood friends.
2335
01:38:56,020 --> 01:38:57,690
And Annette, who is so sweet
2336
01:38:57,720 --> 01:38:58,890
and such a dear heart
2337
01:38:58,920 --> 01:39:00,060
and such a "nice girl,"
2338
01:39:00,090 --> 01:39:03,000
has got such a raucous
sense of humor.
2339
01:39:03,020 --> 01:39:04,970
I mean, we were just outrageous.
2340
01:39:04,990 --> 01:39:08,740
You put a bunch of actors
around a table for hours,
2341
01:39:08,760 --> 01:39:11,670
it's crowd control at
a whole other level.
2342
01:39:11,700 --> 01:39:13,940
I think it was very hard
and I want to apologize
2343
01:39:13,970 --> 01:39:16,280
right now to the director
and everybody.
2344
01:39:16,300 --> 01:39:19,380
And then after
that, staying in character
2345
01:39:19,410 --> 01:39:22,780
knowing what this meant,
that this was again an omen.
2346
01:39:22,810 --> 01:39:24,350
This thing is never
going to leave us.
2347
01:39:24,380 --> 01:39:25,750
The little thing with the eye,
2348
01:39:25,780 --> 01:39:26,760
the fortune cookie,
2349
01:39:26,780 --> 01:39:28,090
that was my favorite.
2350
01:39:28,110 --> 01:39:29,320
Back then, you had to do
2351
01:39:29,350 --> 01:39:31,060
everything practically.
2352
01:39:31,080 --> 01:39:33,830
And if they had to fix it,
it was a lot of work and money.
2353
01:39:33,850 --> 01:39:35,930
So, the challenges
that IT brought
2354
01:39:35,960 --> 01:39:37,170
to the effects department
2355
01:39:37,190 --> 01:39:38,870
as a mechanical,
practical thing,
2356
01:39:38,890 --> 01:39:40,100
was amazing.
2357
01:39:40,130 --> 01:39:41,100
I loved that scene
2358
01:39:41,130 --> 01:39:43,970
and that's...
In my fading memory,
2359
01:39:44,000 --> 01:39:47,110
making that scene is one
that's always stood out for me.
2360
01:39:47,130 --> 01:39:48,380
That and where
I'm telling them all
2361
01:39:48,400 --> 01:39:51,450
we have to be strong
and we have to stay together
2362
01:39:51,470 --> 01:39:52,510
and we're going to do this.
2363
01:39:52,540 --> 01:39:53,350
And the reason
I remember that scene
2364
01:39:53,370 --> 01:39:56,020
is that I just wonder
how terrible
2365
01:39:56,040 --> 01:39:57,820
my performance was
at that moment.
2366
01:39:57,840 --> 01:40:01,720
I've been afraid to revisit it
because I don't want to know.
2367
01:40:01,750 --> 01:40:02,760
For years,
I've been getting paid
2368
01:40:02,780 --> 01:40:04,080
to scare people,
2369
01:40:05,990 --> 01:40:08,130
but I'm the one
who's been scared.
2370
01:40:08,150 --> 01:40:09,400
I was
just always afraid, oh god,
2371
01:40:09,420 --> 01:40:11,770
was I as hokey
as I thought I was?
2372
01:40:11,790 --> 01:40:13,900
There was so much love
and fun at the table
2373
01:40:13,930 --> 01:40:15,140
in the Chinese restaurant.
2374
01:40:15,160 --> 01:40:19,040
As difficult as it may have
been for them to get it quiet
2375
01:40:19,070 --> 01:40:22,180
and do the work, that chemistry
and that craziness
2376
01:40:22,200 --> 01:40:26,420
is one of the things
that makes the picture work.
2377
01:40:26,440 --> 01:40:29,080
I was responsible
for Stan's head in the fridge.
2378
01:40:29,110 --> 01:40:30,850
Sorry I'm late!
2379
01:40:30,880 --> 01:40:32,290
We were
building the stuff in Burbank
2380
01:40:32,310 --> 01:40:34,120
and then flying up to Vancouver.
2381
01:40:34,150 --> 01:40:34,990
And so I had a big trunk
2382
01:40:35,020 --> 01:40:36,930
that I would carry
the Pennywise wigs
2383
01:40:36,950 --> 01:40:39,130
and the various prosthetics.
You'd go through customs
2384
01:40:39,150 --> 01:40:40,760
and typically
they would open it up
2385
01:40:40,790 --> 01:40:42,330
and uh, you know,
"What's all this stuff?"
2386
01:40:42,350 --> 01:40:44,930
So, I'm going through this time
with the severed head in it,
2387
01:40:44,960 --> 01:40:47,770
so I'm like, you know, "Oh, well
this ought to be funny!"
2388
01:40:47,790 --> 01:40:51,910
From here to here
he built a kind of a false neck,
2389
01:40:51,930 --> 01:40:55,480
so it looked like my head
was sitting flat on the rack.
2390
01:40:55,500 --> 01:40:57,780
Stan's head in
the fridge was a combination
2391
01:40:57,800 --> 01:40:59,550
of a prosthetic on the actor
2392
01:40:59,570 --> 01:41:01,080
to simulate the cut neck.
2393
01:41:01,110 --> 01:41:04,190
I'd already
slid into this refrigerator,
2394
01:41:04,210 --> 01:41:05,950
and you have to picture
it's a rack,
2395
01:41:05,980 --> 01:41:07,990
and the rack goes into
a little notch
2396
01:41:08,010 --> 01:41:09,290
on either side of it.
2397
01:41:09,320 --> 01:41:11,190
So you have to
get it just right,
2398
01:41:11,220 --> 01:41:13,100
and it has to go in
at just the right angle,
2399
01:41:13,120 --> 01:41:16,030
and I'm part of the rack.
2400
01:41:16,060 --> 01:41:18,030
They had
a shelf with a cutout in it
2401
01:41:18,060 --> 01:41:20,300
that slid up against his neck
2402
01:41:20,330 --> 01:41:22,040
and then, all that
was rodoed out
2403
01:41:22,060 --> 01:41:23,270
by my brother Brett.
2404
01:41:23,300 --> 01:41:25,070
So it was just a neck prosthetic
2405
01:41:25,100 --> 01:41:27,980
and then a death makeup
on Richard.
2406
01:41:28,000 --> 01:41:29,510
I slide into this thing...
2407
01:41:29,540 --> 01:41:32,050
I just hate everybody
and I just want this over with.
2408
01:41:32,070 --> 01:41:33,350
So I'm lying there like this.
2409
01:41:33,370 --> 01:41:37,090
Then they start putting
these little cans and stuff
2410
01:41:37,110 --> 01:41:39,250
around my head
and I'm just going,
2411
01:41:39,280 --> 01:41:41,860
"Can we just shoot this?
Can we please just shoot this?"
2412
01:41:41,880 --> 01:41:43,130
"Yeah, well,
we've gotta just."
2413
01:41:43,150 --> 01:41:45,290
I said, "Come on,
let's shoot the fucking thing.
2414
01:41:45,320 --> 01:41:48,130
I need to get this off,"
and then it's like,
2415
01:41:48,150 --> 01:41:53,570
"Hi, kids! How you doing?
Yeah, we all float down here."
2416
01:41:53,590 --> 01:41:56,360
You know, and I just...
I just wanted to kill somebody.
2417
01:42:09,640 --> 01:42:11,450
When I read the novel,
2418
01:42:11,480 --> 01:42:15,590
all thousand pages of it,
I remember going,
2419
01:42:15,610 --> 01:42:20,400
"Wha...? All this,
and it's a fuckin' spider?"
2420
01:42:20,420 --> 01:42:21,590
Damn me to hell.
2421
01:42:23,460 --> 01:42:27,040
Oh man, come on. You can do
better than that rubber spider.
2422
01:42:27,060 --> 01:42:28,370
Aww.
2423
01:42:28,390 --> 01:42:31,110
I was a little let down,
to be frank,
2424
01:42:31,130 --> 01:42:35,380
and you're talking to someone
who really loves that novel.
2425
01:42:35,400 --> 01:42:38,050
If I'd had one
scene that I would have put in
2426
01:42:38,070 --> 01:42:40,580
that I think is one of
Steve's great sequences,
2427
01:42:40,610 --> 01:42:43,950
it was where they build
the underground clubhouse
2428
01:42:43,980 --> 01:42:47,090
and use it as a smoke hole
and hallucinate IT
2429
01:42:47,110 --> 01:42:50,230
as this extraterrestrial
arrival eons ago,
2430
01:42:50,250 --> 01:42:52,160
and I think it would have
added to the narrative
2431
01:42:52,180 --> 01:42:54,300
and just straight-out
storytelling,
2432
01:42:54,320 --> 01:42:56,960
and maybe directed the spider.
2433
01:42:59,060 --> 01:43:00,340
Into the junk pile.
2434
01:43:01,630 --> 01:43:03,410
The one thing I loathed
2435
01:43:03,430 --> 01:43:05,570
was what they did with him
at the end.
2436
01:43:05,600 --> 01:43:09,310
They made him into
this awful plastic spider.
2437
01:43:09,340 --> 01:43:11,380
I believe in the Tooth Fairy.
2438
01:43:11,400 --> 01:43:13,520
But I don't believe in you!
2439
01:43:13,540 --> 01:43:15,550
Which wasn't scary at all.
2440
01:43:15,570 --> 01:43:18,120
Then
I got over that and thought,
2441
01:43:18,140 --> 01:43:20,220
"Okay, it's a spider.
2442
01:43:20,250 --> 01:43:21,320
Why not?"
2443
01:43:21,350 --> 01:43:22,590
All right, here we go.
2444
01:43:22,620 --> 01:43:25,290
Because it's so much more
than that in the end.
2445
01:43:25,320 --> 01:43:30,470
And there's this cosmic struggle
in space or space-time,
2446
01:43:30,490 --> 01:43:35,270
or Bill's mind or somebody's
mind, you know?
2447
01:43:35,290 --> 01:43:39,510
Come on. Can we have
the deadlights out on a cue?
2448
01:43:39,530 --> 01:43:40,580
- Yep.
- Yes.
2449
01:43:40,600 --> 01:43:41,480
It gets into territory
2450
01:43:41,500 --> 01:43:44,050
that to me it was unfilmable.
2451
01:43:44,070 --> 01:43:45,680
Okay, and the entire creature
2452
01:43:45,700 --> 01:43:47,520
is going to breathe
a little for me, right?
2453
01:43:47,540 --> 01:43:48,540
Here we go.
2454
01:43:50,280 --> 01:43:52,450
I think it has to breathe
a little heavier than that.
2455
01:43:52,480 --> 01:43:55,720
John Thomas, sharper moves!
2456
01:43:55,750 --> 01:43:57,630
So, I
think we were all a little bit like,
2457
01:43:57,650 --> 01:43:59,230
"Okay, now we're
in a monster movie.
2458
01:43:59,250 --> 01:44:01,920
Now we're going to be
fighting this big toy."
2459
01:44:04,690 --> 01:44:05,640
Somebody rear back
2460
01:44:05,660 --> 01:44:09,440
with their fist.
John! That's it!
2461
01:44:09,460 --> 01:44:11,170
More of that!
2462
01:44:11,200 --> 01:44:13,000
It culminates in a struggle.
2463
01:44:16,640 --> 01:44:19,550
Between
humans and a giant spider.
2464
01:44:19,570 --> 01:44:20,880
All right, fine.
2465
01:44:20,910 --> 01:44:24,090
Our challenge of course
was to come up with a creature
2466
01:44:24,110 --> 01:44:26,550
that looks incredible.
2467
01:44:26,580 --> 01:44:30,560
Only we had champagne ideas
and a beer budget.
2468
01:44:30,580 --> 01:44:31,560
Look at this masterful piece.
2469
01:44:31,580 --> 01:44:32,760
Yeah. Look at it, look at it.
2470
01:44:32,790 --> 01:44:35,300
- Look at this.
- Aaron Sims. Aaron Sims.
2471
01:44:35,320 --> 01:44:36,300
Joey.
2472
01:44:36,320 --> 01:44:38,330
That's a bad
sculpture, very bad.
2473
01:44:38,360 --> 01:44:39,370
Oh, no it's not.
2474
01:44:39,390 --> 01:44:40,240
It's a very cool sculpture.
2475
01:44:40,260 --> 01:44:41,770
Aaron's doing his magic.
2476
01:44:41,790 --> 01:44:42,940
It was me
and a colleague and friend,
2477
01:44:42,960 --> 01:44:45,370
Joey Orosco,
which was creating the spider
2478
01:44:45,400 --> 01:44:47,380
that would be in the climax
of the show.
2479
01:44:47,400 --> 01:44:48,610
Look what he's doing.
2480
01:44:48,630 --> 01:44:50,450
- It sucks.
- I'm fucking it up. Look at it.
2481
01:44:50,470 --> 01:44:51,650
Hey, this is
for family television.
2482
01:44:51,670 --> 01:44:54,250
- Hey!
- No, we got the edit coming now.
2483
01:44:54,270 --> 01:44:57,050
Going into it,
I guess subconsciously,
2484
01:44:57,080 --> 01:44:59,450
I didn't want people to just go,
"Oh, it's just a spider."
2485
01:45:02,480 --> 01:45:03,730
This is like...
2486
01:45:03,750 --> 01:45:04,750
I know, but.
2487
01:45:11,760 --> 01:45:14,300
I didn't want it
to be just a big black widow
2488
01:45:14,330 --> 01:45:15,640
or a tarantula.
2489
01:45:16,830 --> 01:45:23,380
Yeah, well I got...
2490
01:45:23,400 --> 01:45:25,150
It's spider-like,
2491
01:45:25,170 --> 01:45:27,720
but it was never intended to be a spider.
2492
01:45:27,740 --> 01:45:29,350
The design evolved,
2493
01:45:29,380 --> 01:45:31,660
so there was a lot of different
designs that were created.
2494
01:45:31,810 --> 01:45:34,290
Some were more spider-like
2495
01:45:34,310 --> 01:45:35,520
that felt they
were very grounded
2496
01:45:35,550 --> 01:45:37,290
to an earthbound spider.
2497
01:45:37,320 --> 01:45:38,630
What we ended up going with is
2498
01:45:38,650 --> 01:45:40,250
something that felt
otherworldly.
2499
01:45:43,460 --> 01:45:46,130
If you actually delivered
a giant spider...
2500
01:45:46,160 --> 01:45:47,800
The two effects guys
on the picture,
2501
01:45:47,830 --> 01:45:49,740
John and Gene.
2502
01:45:49,760 --> 01:45:51,570
Living in a cave.
2503
01:45:51,600 --> 01:45:55,680
It took the film
from this frightening,
2504
01:45:55,700 --> 01:45:57,480
heady picture,
2505
01:45:57,500 --> 01:45:59,140
to a Ray Harryhausen
action adventure.
2506
01:46:01,240 --> 01:46:02,820
But that's what the script
called for,
2507
01:46:02,840 --> 01:46:06,650
so we did whatever
we thought we could do
2508
01:46:06,680 --> 01:46:08,120
for the time and money,
2509
01:46:08,150 --> 01:46:11,130
and we built
a stop-motion spider.
2510
01:46:11,150 --> 01:46:13,360
It was
Bart who created the model.
2511
01:46:13,390 --> 01:46:15,800
Did a masterful job
and it was beautiful.
2512
01:46:15,820 --> 01:46:18,300
And I'd signed off on that.
2513
01:46:18,320 --> 01:46:20,640
Well, I don't want to
point too many fingers.
2514
01:46:20,660 --> 01:46:21,840
For some reason,
I think the spider
2515
01:46:21,860 --> 01:46:25,810
gets a lot of grief
that I don't think it deserves.
2516
01:46:25,830 --> 01:46:28,710
When the
crew came up from Los Angeles
2517
01:46:28,730 --> 01:46:32,210
and they got it out to
assemble the spider,
2518
01:46:32,240 --> 01:46:35,180
there was this kind
of, "Oh, by the way,
2519
01:46:35,210 --> 01:46:38,390
the spider, as planned,
2520
01:46:38,410 --> 01:46:39,790
was unwieldy.
2521
01:46:39,810 --> 01:46:41,720
The physics of it
were just such that
2522
01:46:41,750 --> 01:46:43,560
we couldn't make that happen.
2523
01:46:43,580 --> 01:46:44,890
It was just too heavy.
2524
01:46:44,920 --> 01:46:47,730
It was collapsing
under its own weight."
2525
01:46:47,750 --> 01:46:50,230
You're assembling something
that doesn't look anything
2526
01:46:50,260 --> 01:46:52,370
like we agreed upon.
2527
01:46:56,700 --> 01:46:58,370
And
now I'm just supposed to shoot it?
2528
01:46:58,400 --> 01:46:59,570
Well, the answer was:
2529
01:46:59,600 --> 01:47:01,810
"Yeah, that's show business.
2530
01:47:01,830 --> 01:47:04,850
You don't have any more time.
You've got to do this."
2531
01:47:04,870 --> 01:47:08,520
Hold them up there,
hold them up. right arm in.
2532
01:47:08,540 --> 01:47:10,450
So make it look
the best you can.
2533
01:47:10,480 --> 01:47:11,480
Drop!
2534
01:47:13,180 --> 01:47:14,290
God!
2535
01:47:14,310 --> 01:47:16,190
Cut. Aces.
2536
01:47:16,220 --> 01:47:17,360
So I tell people,
"Hey, it could have been
2537
01:47:17,380 --> 01:47:18,830
fighting a turtle
in outer space.
2538
01:47:18,850 --> 01:47:20,400
Would you have liked
that better?"
2539
01:47:20,420 --> 01:47:21,660
I thought the spider
was fantastic,
2540
01:47:21,690 --> 01:47:22,860
to tell you the truth.
2541
01:47:22,890 --> 01:47:25,830
The way it looked in
the shop was really cool.
2542
01:47:25,860 --> 01:47:27,540
We had 12 weeks to build it.
2543
01:47:27,560 --> 01:47:29,500
Unfortunately,
the shooting of the spider
2544
01:47:29,530 --> 01:47:33,210
was literally
the last two days of filming.
2545
01:47:33,230 --> 01:47:34,610
All right, take it up to,
2546
01:47:34,630 --> 01:47:35,870
uh, a hundred.
2547
01:47:37,900 --> 01:47:39,550
Okay!
2548
01:47:39,570 --> 01:47:40,480
I think a lot of times,
2549
01:47:40,510 --> 01:47:42,650
for time constraints on set,
2550
01:47:42,670 --> 01:47:44,350
or for whatever reason...
2551
01:47:44,380 --> 01:47:47,360
Put the hands out slowly!
2552
01:47:47,380 --> 01:47:48,460
Cut!
2553
01:47:48,480 --> 01:47:50,330
The director
can't get the shots
2554
01:47:50,350 --> 01:47:52,460
or doesn't shoot it
to its full potential.
2555
01:47:52,480 --> 01:47:54,600
What we built and delivered
was capable of
2556
01:47:54,620 --> 01:47:57,930
a lot more than what's seen in the film.
2557
01:47:57,960 --> 01:47:59,930
And positions, please.
2558
01:47:59,960 --> 01:48:01,770
There we go.
2559
01:48:01,790 --> 01:48:02,710
The big
problem with a lot of these movies
2560
01:48:02,730 --> 01:48:05,370
is that you get the set
and they're like,
2561
01:48:05,400 --> 01:48:06,670
"Okay, put it
in front of the camera.
2562
01:48:06,700 --> 01:48:08,380
Okay, make it move."
2563
01:48:08,400 --> 01:48:09,910
And then they wiggle it:
wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. "Okay."
2564
01:48:09,940 --> 01:48:11,550
- Cut.
- Cut.
2565
01:48:11,570 --> 01:48:12,810
Nicely done.
2566
01:48:12,840 --> 01:48:14,050
And
you're like, "Hold on a second,
2567
01:48:14,070 --> 01:48:14,520
this could do much more..."
"No, no. We got it. We got it.
2568
01:48:14,540 --> 01:48:15,740
We're moving on."
2569
01:48:16,780 --> 01:48:17,950
The head had
a full range of movement.
2570
01:48:17,980 --> 01:48:19,320
The fangs could move,
2571
01:48:19,340 --> 01:48:21,390
the mouth, the mandibles.
2572
01:48:21,410 --> 01:48:24,260
Get the hands around
and then just pinch around.
2573
01:48:25,820 --> 01:48:27,230
The fangs dripped poison.
2574
01:48:28,750 --> 01:48:29,760
The eyes moved.
2575
01:48:29,790 --> 01:48:31,570
- Who's got the eyes?
- Mike.
2576
01:48:31,590 --> 01:48:32,830
There you go.
2577
01:48:34,390 --> 01:48:35,800
Go to town, Brent.
2578
01:48:35,830 --> 01:48:37,970
Brent Baker
was my main mold maker
2579
01:48:38,000 --> 01:48:40,940
and then he also performed
inside the spider.
2580
01:48:40,970 --> 01:48:42,530
Move the butt, Brent.
2581
01:48:43,800 --> 01:48:45,550
Yeah.-.
2582
01:48:45,570 --> 01:48:47,650
Move it
like a bug would move it, Brent.
2583
01:48:47,670 --> 01:48:51,590
He is! That's it!
It's a frightening bug.
2584
01:48:51,610 --> 01:48:53,020
It's always
a challenge when you're
2585
01:48:53,050 --> 01:48:54,960
playing inside a creature suit.
2586
01:48:54,980 --> 01:48:55,890
How is it in there, Brent?
2587
01:48:55,920 --> 01:48:56,990
You gotta speak up, Tommy.
2588
01:48:57,020 --> 01:48:58,280
You okay, Brent?
2589
01:49:01,420 --> 01:49:04,530
They would insert me through
the rear of the spider
2590
01:49:04,560 --> 01:49:08,040
and pull off the abdomen,
and slide me up into it.
2591
01:49:08,060 --> 01:49:08,870
He was also inside the spider
2592
01:49:08,900 --> 01:49:10,640
when they flipped it over,
2593
01:49:10,660 --> 01:49:12,570
but it had these metal ribs
around it
2594
01:49:12,600 --> 01:49:14,740
and those we hadn't
thought to pad.
2595
01:49:14,770 --> 01:49:17,510
When I say, "Action,".
2596
01:49:17,540 --> 01:49:19,710
IT will overlap, that is to say,
2597
01:49:19,740 --> 01:49:20,980
a few steps back,
you'll come in,
2598
01:49:21,010 --> 01:49:22,780
Rambo on the creature,
2599
01:49:22,810 --> 01:49:25,290
it will do its roll and go down.
2600
01:49:25,310 --> 01:49:26,590
It's all fun and games
2601
01:49:26,610 --> 01:49:30,290
until they go to push
the spider over on its side
2602
01:49:30,320 --> 01:49:31,660
and like a fool I was like,
"I'll do it.
2603
01:49:31,680 --> 01:49:33,720
Yeah, I'll be in it, you know.
How bad could it be?"
2604
01:49:34,920 --> 01:49:37,300
And, action!
2605
01:49:37,320 --> 01:49:38,730
So, yeah,
he goes like 90 degrees
2606
01:49:38,760 --> 01:49:42,670
and then just slams
into these aluminum.
2607
01:49:42,690 --> 01:49:44,670
Square stocks.
2608
01:49:44,700 --> 01:49:47,480
- Cut!
- Cut!
2609
01:49:47,500 --> 01:49:48,910
Brent, you all right?
2610
01:49:48,930 --> 01:49:50,980
He had some nice bruises,
but he was a trouper.
2611
01:49:51,000 --> 01:49:52,010
Show your bruises.
2612
01:49:52,040 --> 01:49:52,880
Let's see the bruises.
2613
01:49:52,910 --> 01:49:53,880
You're going to be a star.
2614
01:49:53,910 --> 01:49:54,880
They're starting to turn
2615
01:49:54,910 --> 01:49:56,920
kind of greenish now.
There's the other one.
2616
01:49:56,940 --> 01:49:59,850
It's turning all kinds of
interesting colors.
2617
01:49:59,880 --> 01:50:01,890
I was effectively
blind inside of there.
2618
01:50:01,910 --> 01:50:03,320
Not to complain,
2619
01:50:03,350 --> 01:50:07,030
because it's still great fun,
you know, playing a monster.
2620
01:50:07,050 --> 01:50:09,060
It's like, "Hey, I'm almost
like part of the cast."
2621
01:50:09,090 --> 01:50:10,200
It was his idea.
2622
01:50:10,220 --> 01:50:12,520
He wanted to be an
actor, so there you go.
2623
01:50:17,730 --> 01:50:20,010
There's a couple
of close-ups of the spider
2624
01:50:20,030 --> 01:50:22,510
that for some reason
they shot it at like 50,
2625
01:50:22,530 --> 01:50:24,880
60 frames a second,
maybe even slower,
2626
01:50:24,900 --> 01:50:28,480
to where it's barely perceived
that it's moving.
2627
01:50:28,510 --> 01:50:31,350
I think if we delivered a spider
that did as little
2628
01:50:31,380 --> 01:50:33,450
as what you see in the show,
2629
01:50:33,480 --> 01:50:35,040
I think they would have been
pissed off.
2630
01:50:38,950 --> 01:50:43,900
Unfortunately, the timing
session after the fact...
2631
01:50:43,920 --> 01:50:46,630
After all the photography
is done
2632
01:50:46,660 --> 01:50:49,040
and you've got your movie
and now you're in a session
2633
01:50:49,060 --> 01:50:51,040
where you're looking at a scene
2634
01:50:51,060 --> 01:50:53,510
and you're making it
lighter or darker;
2635
01:50:53,530 --> 01:50:56,480
at that point, I was in Tahiti
2636
01:50:56,500 --> 01:50:58,050
on this other picture.
2637
01:50:58,070 --> 01:51:01,980
And so, the timing session
went on without us,
2638
01:51:02,010 --> 01:51:05,650
with another member
of the organization who...
2639
01:51:05,680 --> 01:51:09,020
He and I had not
communicated successfully.
2640
01:51:09,050 --> 01:51:11,490
So, it was lit up
pretty brightly.
2641
01:51:11,520 --> 01:51:14,800
You saw everything,
and I was dismayed.
2642
01:51:14,820 --> 01:51:18,700
And it was out there
before I could correct it.
2643
01:51:18,720 --> 01:51:21,500
I would go back and
correct it now if I could.
2644
01:51:21,530 --> 01:51:23,640
Okay and roll.
2645
01:51:25,530 --> 01:51:27,940
Five fifty-five, George.
2646
01:51:27,970 --> 01:51:29,810
Five fifty-five, Baker.
2647
01:51:29,840 --> 01:51:31,610
I kept saying there has to be
2648
01:51:31,640 --> 01:51:34,150
a weakness based in fear,
2649
01:51:34,170 --> 01:51:37,520
not in physical strength,
that's inside Eddie.
2650
01:51:37,540 --> 01:51:40,990
What is the secret that he has
not been able to tell anyone,
2651
01:51:41,010 --> 01:51:42,520
including these people?
2652
01:51:42,550 --> 01:51:45,630
We're now crawling
through the tunnel
2653
01:51:45,650 --> 01:51:48,600
towards what will be the spider,
2654
01:51:48,620 --> 01:51:52,000
and that day
I'm saying to Tommy,
2655
01:51:52,020 --> 01:51:54,840
"What are we going to do
about Eddie,
2656
01:51:54,860 --> 01:51:57,910
and Eddie's fatal flaw,
his big fear?
2657
01:51:57,930 --> 01:51:59,810
He hasn't confessed.
2658
01:51:59,830 --> 01:52:02,010
We know what's
going to happen to him
2659
01:52:02,030 --> 01:52:03,180
moments after this."
2660
01:52:03,200 --> 01:52:05,740
Push Dennis closer
to the monster, please.
2661
01:52:07,710 --> 01:52:10,120
Ready? Uh, Dennis' face
is blocked.
2662
01:52:10,140 --> 01:52:12,690
Yeah, go back up into that.
2663
01:52:12,710 --> 01:52:14,090
And then.
2664
01:52:14,110 --> 01:52:15,160
Action!
2665
01:52:23,820 --> 01:52:25,130
Cut!
2666
01:52:25,160 --> 01:52:27,100
Eddie deserves to be completed.
2667
01:52:27,130 --> 01:52:30,200
So, I said to him at lunch
before we shot the scene,
2668
01:52:30,230 --> 01:52:35,840
"What if he's just a virgin?
That's it. Finished."
2669
01:52:35,870 --> 01:52:36,810
Well,
I can't help you with that, pal,
2670
01:52:36,840 --> 01:52:38,080
but thanks for sharing.
2671
01:52:38,100 --> 01:52:39,480
Richie! Let him talk.
2672
01:52:39,500 --> 01:52:41,680
We all saw how
uncomfortable, awkward
2673
01:52:41,710 --> 01:52:44,620
and really strange it is to...
It's not really strange,
2674
01:52:44,640 --> 01:52:46,550
it's not really strange at all,
it's a choice.
2675
01:52:46,580 --> 01:52:50,960
But how society reacts to people
that aren't sexual,
2676
01:52:50,980 --> 01:52:52,960
and Eddie was not.
2677
01:52:52,980 --> 01:52:54,130
I could
never sleep with somebody
2678
01:52:54,150 --> 01:52:56,560
that I didn't love.
2679
01:52:56,590 --> 01:52:58,720
And I've never
really loved anyone.
2680
01:53:00,830 --> 01:53:03,170
Except you guys.
2681
01:53:03,200 --> 01:53:04,140
And.
2682
01:53:04,160 --> 01:53:06,670
One, two, three, go!
2683
01:53:08,700 --> 01:53:10,950
There are
things I wouldn't have done,
2684
01:53:10,970 --> 01:53:13,080
had I had the ability
to see in retrospect,
2685
01:53:13,100 --> 01:53:16,020
was the revelation of IT
as the spider.
2686
01:53:16,040 --> 01:53:18,690
Had I been around, I would have
come up with something
2687
01:53:18,710 --> 01:53:19,850
involving Pennywise.
2688
01:53:22,580 --> 01:53:24,860
Some things you can't
know until after the fact.
2689
01:53:24,880 --> 01:53:28,260
Who knew that Tim Curry was just
going to be such a home run?
2690
01:53:28,290 --> 01:53:32,730
It was like, okay, the book says
he disappears at this point
2691
01:53:32,760 --> 01:53:34,100
and never to return.
2692
01:53:34,130 --> 01:53:36,970
But like probably
most of the audience
2693
01:53:37,000 --> 01:53:40,710
when I watch it, I go,
"Oh! There goes Tim."
2694
01:53:45,240 --> 01:53:47,720
Oh, I wish we could have
one more scene with him.
2695
01:53:47,740 --> 01:53:50,690
Some kind of goodbye scene,
some way of.
2696
01:53:50,710 --> 01:53:52,550
Well, maybe we should kill him,
you know?
2697
01:53:52,580 --> 01:53:56,760
Or maybe his face should be
the spider's face.
2698
01:53:56,780 --> 01:53:57,890
Or... I don't know.
2699
01:53:57,920 --> 01:53:59,630
That's a problem
we never solved.
2700
01:54:03,220 --> 01:54:04,770
You're ducking way down.
2701
01:54:04,790 --> 01:54:06,870
You got to look for the rock
standing straight up.
2702
01:54:06,890 --> 01:54:08,000
- Okay.
- It may look...
2703
01:54:08,030 --> 01:54:11,870
It may feel a little goofy, but.
- I... I didn't realize.
2704
01:54:11,900 --> 01:54:13,980
I guess after
Beverly wounds the spider
2705
01:54:14,000 --> 01:54:16,940
with the slingshot and the rock
and it walks away,
2706
01:54:16,970 --> 01:54:19,680
when they came upon him
in that last bit,
2707
01:54:19,700 --> 01:54:23,180
had that been Tim Curry again,
mortally wounded,
2708
01:54:23,210 --> 01:54:25,220
I think that might have been
a more satisfying ending,
2709
01:54:25,240 --> 01:54:28,120
because you were just
so invested in Tim
2710
01:54:28,150 --> 01:54:30,020
as that villain at that point.
2711
01:54:30,050 --> 01:54:32,260
It would have been nice
had we been able to solve it,
2712
01:54:32,280 --> 01:54:35,900
because I agree
that the story drops Pennywise,
2713
01:54:35,920 --> 01:54:37,870
and he's such
an endearing character,
2714
01:54:37,890 --> 01:54:40,070
he deserved a better exit.
2715
01:54:40,090 --> 01:54:42,370
All right,
bring it to a climax now.
2716
01:54:42,390 --> 01:54:43,970
Everybody all at once.
2717
01:54:48,030 --> 01:54:49,040
And, cut!
2718
01:54:52,770 --> 01:54:54,820
I suppose
people will revisit this
2719
01:54:54,840 --> 01:54:56,320
and know that it's a puppet,
2720
01:54:56,340 --> 01:54:58,190
but it doesn't matter.
2721
01:54:58,210 --> 01:55:00,920
The story returns
to the world of the psyche
2722
01:55:00,950 --> 01:55:03,690
and goes back into
very good territory, I think.
2723
01:55:03,720 --> 01:55:05,660
It goes back to the
heart of what the deep
2724
01:55:05,680 --> 01:55:08,030
thematic structure
of the piece is.
2725
01:55:08,050 --> 01:55:09,860
The hardest part about that
for me really
2726
01:55:09,890 --> 01:55:11,830
was the fucking bicycle.
2727
01:55:11,860 --> 01:55:13,900
Forget the horror and the drama,
2728
01:55:13,930 --> 01:55:16,240
it was the bicycle
that was the problem, okay?
2729
01:55:16,260 --> 01:55:18,140
That's where the fear
and the terror was.
2730
01:55:18,160 --> 01:55:20,210
I loved Olivia.
Great sense of humor,
2731
01:55:20,230 --> 01:55:22,940
but a fragility
which I thought was wonderful.
2732
01:55:22,970 --> 01:55:25,810
And she was terrified
that I was going to kill her.
2733
01:55:25,840 --> 01:55:28,020
I know she was.
I think she said she was.
2734
01:55:28,040 --> 01:55:29,150
I just said, "Please god,
2735
01:55:29,170 --> 01:55:31,650
let me not kill
this actress and myself."
2736
01:55:31,680 --> 01:55:32,950
Hold on.
2737
01:55:32,980 --> 01:55:34,660
You
can see the terror on my face
2738
01:55:34,680 --> 01:55:36,120
if you look very carefully.
2739
01:55:36,150 --> 01:55:37,990
Behind the veneer
of performance,
2740
01:55:38,020 --> 01:55:39,030
it's there.
2741
01:55:39,050 --> 01:55:40,760
I will forever associate Olivia
2742
01:55:40,790 --> 01:55:43,890
with going downhill
at speed on a bike.
2743
01:56:00,770 --> 01:56:04,020
Alan and I
went down to the agency
2744
01:56:04,040 --> 01:56:07,320
to meet with Stephen
and show him the picture.
2745
01:56:07,350 --> 01:56:09,020
They had a screening room
all set up.
2746
01:56:09,050 --> 01:56:10,960
And I remember he came up to us
2747
01:56:10,980 --> 01:56:13,790
and I put my hand out to shake
Stephen's hand
2748
01:56:13,820 --> 01:56:17,430
and he had a rat in it,
2749
01:56:17,460 --> 01:56:20,170
a rubber rat.
2750
01:56:20,190 --> 01:56:23,740
It was kind of like
a shocking thing, you know,
2751
01:56:23,760 --> 01:56:25,440
and it was, I don't know,
maybe to break the ice.
2752
01:56:25,460 --> 01:56:28,040
We had a few exchanged words
2753
01:56:28,070 --> 01:56:30,750
and then he saw it privately.
2754
01:56:30,770 --> 01:56:33,210
He didn't want us to be
there, but, um, we later heard
2755
01:56:33,240 --> 01:56:34,920
that he liked it
and he was happy.
2756
01:56:34,940 --> 01:56:39,320
I was
certain when we got a final cut
2757
01:56:39,340 --> 01:56:41,320
that we had a good movie.
2758
01:56:41,350 --> 01:56:43,890
At the premiere,
I was really just thinking
2759
01:56:43,920 --> 01:56:47,390
that I can't believe I'm
actually a part of this film.
2760
01:56:48,790 --> 01:56:49,960
The results were,
2761
01:56:49,990 --> 01:56:52,930
that we got a viewership
of 30 million people.
2762
01:56:52,960 --> 01:56:54,970
It was huge in the ratings.
2763
01:56:54,990 --> 01:56:57,740
It was viewed as a big success.
2764
01:56:57,760 --> 01:57:01,340
And the press on it
was very positive.
2765
01:57:01,370 --> 01:57:03,910
I think
the legacy of the original IT
2766
01:57:03,940 --> 01:57:06,250
was this brilliant performance
2767
01:57:06,270 --> 01:57:09,220
on TV, which you would
usually see in film,
2768
01:57:09,240 --> 01:57:11,020
in your living rooms.
2769
01:57:11,040 --> 01:57:15,490
It was just
an extraordinary event to.
2770
01:57:15,510 --> 01:57:20,060
Have this King first piece for
TV as a mini-series
2771
01:57:20,090 --> 01:57:22,530
come out and stake
that kind of territory
2772
01:57:22,550 --> 01:57:24,900
and resonate so strongly
with people.
2773
01:57:24,920 --> 01:57:28,770
It became the proverbial
water cooler mini-series.
2774
01:57:28,790 --> 01:57:31,240
And I think it then
went on to have
2775
01:57:31,260 --> 01:57:34,540
the most unexpected afterlife.
2776
01:57:34,570 --> 01:57:35,480
I think the reason
2777
01:57:35,500 --> 01:57:39,210
that IT was so successful
at scaring people
2778
01:57:39,240 --> 01:57:42,250
is because these characters
don't have the ability
2779
01:57:42,270 --> 01:57:46,350
to name what scares them
or the forces that oppress them.
2780
01:57:46,380 --> 01:57:48,090
The high point was going up
2781
01:57:48,110 --> 01:57:49,450
and receiving the Emmy.
2782
01:57:50,880 --> 01:57:53,260
I'm told that when they
announced my name.
2783
01:57:53,280 --> 01:57:55,230
Bam! I was gone.
2784
01:57:55,250 --> 01:57:57,300
You know, as if I thought
they were going to take it back
2785
01:57:57,320 --> 01:57:59,930
if I didn't get up to
the podium quickly enough.
2786
01:57:59,960 --> 01:58:04,470
He just made magic
with that score.
2787
01:58:04,500 --> 01:58:07,430
Align: left position:45% line:5% size:45%.
2788
01:58:09,000 --> 01:58:13,580
- Meep, meep.
- S.S. Georgie underway.
2789
01:58:13,610 --> 01:58:15,280
Rocks! Rocks?
2790
01:58:15,310 --> 01:58:16,440
Rocks!
2791
01:58:20,550 --> 01:58:21,890
It's a very lonely Emmy
2792
01:58:21,910 --> 01:58:24,020
sitting in my house,
2793
01:58:24,050 --> 01:58:26,290
but that's all right.
2794
01:58:26,320 --> 01:58:30,500
I credit Tim and Stephen King
for my Emmy.
2795
01:58:30,520 --> 01:58:32,970
It's very difficult
to write music
2796
01:58:32,990 --> 01:58:37,140
when the story is flawed
or when the acting is poor.
2797
01:58:37,160 --> 01:58:40,910
When the story is.
I mean, that great,
2798
01:58:40,930 --> 01:58:43,310
and the performances
are that good,
2799
01:58:43,330 --> 01:58:48,280
that all adds up
to any department's Emmy.
2800
01:58:48,310 --> 01:58:51,940
You're elevated by those
performances in that story.
2801
01:58:57,080 --> 01:58:59,860
One of the reasons that I think
it's a cult favorite
2802
01:58:59,880 --> 01:59:03,130
is because
of Tim Curry and the clown.
2803
01:59:03,150 --> 01:59:04,400
He's everything.
2804
01:59:04,420 --> 01:59:06,170
He is the poster,
2805
01:59:06,190 --> 01:59:07,430
he's on T-shirts.
2806
01:59:07,460 --> 01:59:08,870
Pop culture has taken
2807
01:59:08,890 --> 01:59:11,340
ownership of this miniseries.
2808
01:59:11,360 --> 01:59:14,070
Without the benefit of any CGI,
2809
01:59:15,930 --> 01:59:21,450
just balls to the walls talent,
Tim nailed it in a way that.
2810
01:59:21,470 --> 01:59:24,190
You say "IT"
and people say "Tim Curry."
2811
01:59:24,210 --> 01:59:27,050
Me?
2812
01:59:27,080 --> 01:59:28,960
I think it's really
interesting how
2813
01:59:28,980 --> 01:59:32,990
the Pennywise character
continues to gain that fan base.
2814
01:59:33,020 --> 01:59:34,900
As the internet grew,
2815
01:59:34,920 --> 01:59:36,130
I started to really realize
2816
01:59:36,150 --> 01:59:38,100
how much of an impact he had,
2817
01:59:38,120 --> 01:59:40,230
and the film had
on a lot of people.
2818
01:59:43,190 --> 01:59:45,210
Now we're in an age where
2819
01:59:45,230 --> 01:59:47,340
nostalgic things
are being passed down.
2820
01:59:47,370 --> 01:59:50,210
We generationally are choosing
what icons to perpetuate
2821
01:59:50,240 --> 01:59:51,610
to future generations.
2822
01:59:51,640 --> 01:59:54,980
Pennywise
as an ultimate horror icon,
2823
01:59:55,010 --> 01:59:58,590
a demonic infinite that has
access to your deepest fears,
2824
01:59:58,610 --> 02:00:02,590
I don't think that's gonna
dull anytime soon.
2825
02:00:02,610 --> 02:00:05,260
I'm just so happy to be part
2826
02:00:05,280 --> 02:00:10,460
of what Stephen King created
and part of what Tommy Lee
2827
02:00:10,490 --> 02:00:12,270
gave to America.
2828
02:00:12,290 --> 02:00:14,240
Being familiar
with Stephen King's work
2829
02:00:14,260 --> 02:00:16,240
and actually being able to
help realize this
2830
02:00:16,260 --> 02:00:18,410
on any capacity
was a thrill for me.
2831
02:00:18,430 --> 02:00:20,150
We did it! Yeah!
2832
02:00:22,470 --> 02:00:24,270
I enjoyed the tension.
2833
02:00:26,240 --> 02:00:28,380
I mean, not as a person
but as an actor.
2834
02:00:28,410 --> 02:00:30,580
Throughout the whole
process of shooting IT,
2835
02:00:30,610 --> 02:00:34,120
I was learning at
such an exponential rate.
2836
02:00:34,150 --> 02:00:36,960
I was discovering
that there was more to acting
2837
02:00:36,980 --> 02:00:38,660
than standing on your mark.
2838
02:00:38,680 --> 02:00:39,390
Take the outside
2839
02:00:39,420 --> 02:00:41,460
instead of the inside, Brandon.
2840
02:00:41,490 --> 02:00:42,360
There's a lot of room
right there.
2841
02:00:42,390 --> 02:00:44,600
Not too far out,
squeeze in behind Bill.
2842
02:00:44,620 --> 02:00:47,030
I was loving it.
2843
02:00:47,060 --> 02:00:48,270
I think it fits well
2844
02:00:48,290 --> 02:00:51,740
amongst some of the great
icons of the genre.
2845
02:00:51,760 --> 02:00:55,080
There's even a comedic aspect
to it that was never intended.
2846
02:00:55,100 --> 02:00:56,380
Beep-beep!
2847
02:00:56,400 --> 02:00:57,510
I never
would have known or thought
2848
02:00:57,540 --> 02:00:59,380
that it would have
become a cult classic.
2849
02:00:59,400 --> 02:01:01,180
I always thought
that it was a great story.
2850
02:01:01,210 --> 02:01:03,150
But I never realized
2851
02:01:03,170 --> 02:01:05,250
that it would go
as far as it's gotten.
2852
02:01:05,280 --> 02:01:07,120
I'm very proud of it
2853
02:01:07,150 --> 02:01:10,360
and I'm used to the
idea of cult movies,
2854
02:01:10,380 --> 02:01:12,560
so I'm glad that
it's having a life.
2855
02:01:12,580 --> 02:01:14,430
It's a cracking story.
2856
02:01:14,450 --> 02:01:16,000
The popularity of IT
2857
02:01:16,020 --> 02:01:18,570
down through the years
is multi-layered.
2858
02:01:18,590 --> 02:01:23,070
I think first it speaks
to really fine performances.
2859
02:01:23,090 --> 02:01:24,770
That's first and foremost.
2860
02:01:24,800 --> 02:01:28,180
A good story as the foundation.
2861
02:01:28,200 --> 02:01:29,480
A great script,
2862
02:01:29,500 --> 02:01:31,180
at least in Night One.
2863
02:01:31,200 --> 02:01:32,780
Competent directing.
2864
02:01:32,800 --> 02:01:36,450
That's a formula for something
that will be viewed
2865
02:01:36,470 --> 02:01:40,220
more than once among those
who consider it a favorite.
2866
02:01:40,240 --> 02:01:41,360
They'll watch it again.
2867
02:01:41,380 --> 02:01:45,390
Down here we all float!
219542
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